Democracy is a relative concept, says Lula about dictatorship in Venezuela

In an interview with Rádio Gaúcha This Thursday morning (29), President Lula (PT) relativized the numerous violations of democracy, human rights and individual freedoms underway in Venezuela, governed by the dictator Nicolás Maduro, an ally of the PT.

When questioned about why the current government avoids considering Venezuela a dictatorship, Lula said that the country has more elections than Brazil, while he was interrupted by journalist Rodrigo Lopes: “But elections do not guarantee democracy, right? ”. The PT then replied:

“Let me tell you something, the concept of democracy is relative to you and me. I like democracy, because the democracy that made me reach the presidency of the Republic for the third time”. Then, Lula stated that there would be elections this year in Venezuela and invited the radio station to send a team to find out if the election would be legitimate.

The journalist, however, reminded the president of an episode, in January 2019, in which he was arrested by the Venezuelan regime and had his cell phone and passport seized by agents of the Maduro government. He was only released hours after questioning, after being threatened and forced to be photographed. “Would you say, today, that Venezuela is a democracy?”, asks the journalist.

The president, in his response, avoided commenting on the case exposed by the journalist, did not answer the question and changed the course of the conversation, starting to talk about the group of countries “friends of Venezuela” created by the PT in his first term.

In May of this year, Lula gave the Venezuelan dictator a warm welcome, which earned him a series of criticisms from political figures and national and international press vehicles. Maduro has not visited Brazil since 2015, when Dilma Rousseff took office for the second term.

UN holds Maduro regime responsible for serious human rights violations in Venezuela

Reports from the UN Fact-Finding Mission in Venezuela, which began in 2019, point to a series of ongoing crimes against humanity by the country’s government: arbitrary executions, systematic use of torture, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and sexual violence are among they.

“The mission found reasonable grounds to believe that the Venezuelan authorities and security forces have planned and carried out, since 2014, serious violations of human rights,” said Marta Valiñas, a member of the UN mission in Venezuela after the release of the first report, in 2020. “Far from being isolated acts, these crimes were coordinated and committed in accordance with State policies, with the knowledge or direct support of commanders and senior government officials. The killings appear to be part of a policy to eliminate unwanted members of society with the excuse of fighting crime.”

Maduro’s dictatorship has already suffered sanctions from a number of countries, such as the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. Many of the sanctions are for non-cooperation in the fight against international drug trafficking, illegitimate elections, corruption and human rights violations.