Lula cites Maduro, Fidel, Chávez and Ortega in less than a week

Even after the criticisms of recent months, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) is not concerned with removing his image as dictators. Just last week, the PT gave speeches and interviews in which he mentioned four of the greatest recent autocrats in Latin America: Daniel Ortega, Nicolás Maduro, Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro.

Calling him a companion, Lula mentioned former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro (1916-2016) during a speech at the São Paulo Forum. The event took place in Brasília, from the 29th of June to the 2nd of July, and brought together 123 parties from the left. The Brazilian president was responsible for closing the opening speeches of the event and mentioned Castro three times.

In one of the quotes, the petista said that he “learned to admire” the Cuban dictator. “I’ve learned, throughout my life, to respect and admire my friend Fidel Castro. Because since 1985, in all the relationship I’ve had with Fidel Castro, he’s never stopped criticizing what he had to do personally and never stopped praising publicly,” said Lula.

Lula’s insistent support for Maduro

On the same day, shortly before attending the Forum, Lula turned a blind eye to the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela. In an interview with Rádio Gaúcha, the Brazilian representative made an even bigger mistake: he said that the concept of democracy “is relative”. “Venezuela has more elections than Brazil. The concept of democracy is relative to you and me”, said the PT.

The allegation caused a huge negative wave involving the president. Between the 29th and 30th of June, the topic was mentioned in more than 22,000 publications on Twitter. Of these, according to a survey carried out by Vox Radar, 48.3% were negative tweets, 34.9% positive and 21.3% neutral.

“Anyone who wants to defeat Maduro, defeat him in the next elections now, there will be elections”, he still urged Lula in the interview. Maduro has been at the helm of Venezuela for 10 years and, since coming to power, he is considered a more severe autocrat than Hugo Chávez, his predecessor.

Accused of crimes against human rights and of taking political prisoners, the Venezuelan dictator carries out electoral maneuvers in order not to leave the presidency of Venezuela – elections in the country also do not have the seal of international bodies.

Right after Lula’s statements, the Venezuelan dictator took a new step in the opposite direction of democracy. On June 30, Venezuela made Maduro’s main opponent ineligible for the 2024 elections. Former deputy Corina Machado was the main name of the opposition and had 50% of the voting intentions for the country’s electoral primaries, scheduled for October.

Lula quoted Hugo Chávez twice in less than a week

Former Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez (1954-2013), with whom the PT also maintained a close relationship, appeared in two of Lula’s speeches. During participation in the São Paulo Forum, on June 29, the Brazilian president used a situation with Chávez to support the event.

“In our second meeting, Chávez wanted to participate [do Foro] and we didn’t. At the time, he tried to carry out the coup in Venezuela and we didn’t let him. We said ‘you are not democratic and you will not participate'”, said Lula. The Venezuelan dictator, however, was one of the exalted figures at the 26th annual meeting of the Foro de São Paulo, held in Brasilia

A few days later, Chávez appeared in another speech by Lula, this time during the Mercosur Summit. At the time, Lula was sworn in as the new president of the bloc and did not miss the opportunity to mention dictators. While speaking, the Brazilian representative defended that the countries dialogue with Venezuela and cited an example from the past involving Chávez.

“I went personally to Obama, in a meeting in Trinidad and Tobago where Argentina was, who was Bolivia, and we talked to all the presidents of South America and we said to Obama: “Obama, establish the relationship with Venezuela. Chávez to talk”, he recalled.

At the same event, Lula also cited Nicaragua’s dictator, Daniel Ortega. In his speech, the petista relativized the hunting that the president of Nicaragua has done to members of the Catholic Church: “I was with Pope Francis now and I assumed the commitment to speak with Daniel Ortega next week regarding the dispute there with the sectors of the Church,” he said.