Boric says he was not offended by Lula’s criticism of his demand to condemn the invasion of Ukraine

The President of Chile, Gabriel Boric, said this Wednesday (19) that he was not “offended” by a statement by his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who said that he would have shown “anxiety” during the summit between the European Union (EU) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), concluded on Tuesday (18) in Brussels.

Earlier, Lula had commented on Boric’s demands that the Russian invasion of Ukraine be condemned by the participants of the meeting, especially Latin American leaders.

“Possibly, because it must have been Boric’s first time in a meeting with the European Union and Latin America, he has a little more anxiety than the others. That’s all”, declared Lula, who said that “the lack of habit of participating in these meetings makes a young person thirstier and more hurried, but things are not like that”.

In the meeting’s final declaration, EU and CELAC leaders condemned the war in Ukraine, but did not directly name Russia. Nicaragua was the only country at the summit that did not support the condemnation of the conflict.

Boric said, speaking to journalists in France, that the EU-Celac summit “has not been held for eight years, so I think it was the first summit for many leaders” – suggesting he was not the only inexperienced one at the meeting.

“I respect and love Lula very much, but if you ask me if I want the war to end, yes, I want the war to end, and I think we have to be very clear when saying that this is an unacceptable war of aggression, regardless of the positions that one may have in relation to the temporary presidencies of one or another country, the important thing is that we are capable of defending international law at all costs”, said the Chilean president.

“I am not offended [com a declaração de Lula]I feel calm, today we can have nuances about this, but Chile’s position is based on principles and I think we have to be categorical about this, we cannot leave room for doubt”, added Boric.