Lula criticizes Chilean president for demanding more condemnations against Russia

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) criticized his Chilean counterpart, Gabriel Boric, for demanding more emphasis from the countries of the European Union and Latin America in condemning Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, in a war that has already been going on for more than a year.

Lula said, this Wednesday morning (19), that he does not have to agree with the Chilean’s opinions that “today is Ukraine, and tomorrow it could be any one of us.” For the Brazilian president, Boric was “eager and hasty” in demanding a tougher position from the countries on Russia.

“I don’t have to agree with Boric, it’s his vision. I think the meeting was extraordinary. Possibly, the lack of habit of participating in these meetings makes a young person more thirsty and rushed, but things are not like that”, said Lula shortly before flying back to Brazil from Belgium, where he participated in the 3rd EU-Celac Summit. .

While acknowledging the urgency of reaching an agreement and ending the war, Lula said that Latin American countries are far enough away to “be calm about not getting into the climate in which the Europeans are”.

For him, Latin countries can “enter into a climate of those who are going to build peace”. “The world is starting to get tired, the countries are starting to get tired. The time will come when we have peace, and we will have to have a group of countries capable of talking to Russia and Ukraine”, he added.

The summit issued a joint statement in which the signatory countries view with “deep concern” the direction the war is taking, and called for efforts for just and sustainable peace in the region. Only Nicaragua has not signed the letter.

This was the second time that Lula and Boric publicly disagreed. At the end of May, the Chilean president criticized the Brazilian’s speech for openly defending the regime of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, from which “narratives” about the country were constructed. Boric said it is “impossible to turn a blind eye to human rights violations in Venezuela”.