Lula repeats questionable lines when defending Maduro even with historical facts

The successive defenses of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro since he arrived in Brazil on Sunday (28), and was received on Monday (29) with honors at the Planalto Palace, have generated scathing criticism both on the part of from the opposition as well as from political analysts and government allies, in private conversations. The leader of Venezuela came to the country to participate in the Summit of South America, in Brasilia.

Lula has been reiterating that a “narrative” was built against Venezuela, denying all the human rights and political violations that have taken place in the country since the time of Maduro’s successor, Hugo Chávez.

One example was the process that led to Maduro’s re-election in 2018. The United Nations (UN) refused to send international observers to monitor the election, and the country’s opposition denounced fraud and vote buying. Maduro is also investigated by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, for crimes against humanity and wanted by the US State Department for narcoterrorism.

Henrique Capriles, one of the leaders of the Venezuelan opposition and a presidential candidate, said this Wednesday that Lula’s statements were a “slap in the face of millions of Venezuelans”. “I would like to know what Lula thinks about the situation of our retirees, and he is already old enough to receive a pension, who earn less than US$5 a month,” stated Capriles in an interview with Globo.

“Venezuelans have never been a people that immigrated to other lands, so why are there so many Venezuelans scattered around the world? The answer is because they cannot have a stable job in Venezuela, well paid, to be able to eat, pay for medicine, because the public health system does not give you. I would like to know Lula’s opinion on all this,” he added. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that, by the end of last year, more than 6 million people had left Venezuela in search of a better life.

“Inexplicable that a country has 900 sanctions because the other country doesn’t like it”

Lula’s speeches, however, maintain Maduro’s defense even with all the dictator’s history. One of Lula’s main statements questioned the world’s view of Venezuela, in which he said the dictator should “show his narrative so that he can effectively make people change their minds.”

“I think from everything we’ve talked about, your narrative is going to be infinitely better than the narrative they’ve been telling against you. It is effectively inexplicable for a country to have 900 sanctions because the other country does not like it,” said the Brazilian president.

Lula also considers that “the most absurd thing in the world” is that people who defend democracy “deny that Maduro is president of Venezuela, having been elected by the people”.

The international community supported the declaration of the then president of the National Assembly of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó, as president of the country in 2019. Lula said that he fought a lot “with fellow European social democrats, with the government, with people from the United States” because of the criticism of Maduro.

Lula recalled that he was criticized during the electoral campaign for supporting Venezuela, saying that there is a “great prejudice” against the country.

“How much criticism we suffered here during the campaign for being a friend of Venezuela. There were speeches and more speeches, the opponents said ‘if Lula wins the elections, Brazil will become a Venezuela, an Argentina, a Cuba’, when our dream was that Brazil would be Brazil, better”, he said.

The president ignored the complaints against Maduro and even asked journalists when he arrived at the Itamaraty Palace: “How many years did you spend hearing that Maduro was a bad man?”, being answered by the dictator as “many years”.

According to a May survey by the Venezuelan NGO Foro Penal, there are 285 political prisoners in Venezuela. Local political analysts have long adopted the term “revolving door” to describe the in and out of Venezuelan prisons for political prisoners.

“Narrative: That’s how it happened to Chávez. That’s how it happened to me”

In another moment of the Summit, on Wednesday (30), Lula reaffirmed his support and defense of Maduro despite criticism from other South American presidents, such as Luis Lacalle Pou, from Uruguay, and Gabriel Boric, from Chile. For the Brazilian, the criticisms that “it is not possible that there is not a minimum of democracy in Venezuela” do not hold up.

“Maduro is a president who is part of our continent, of this part of the American continent. Maduro was invited and there was a lot of respect with Maduro’s participation, including the comrades who criticized, making criticism on the edge of democracy, because in these meetings no one is obliged to agree with anyone,” said Lula.

The Brazilian president amended, and said that the “narrative” of what would be an “anti-democracy” had been built since then-leader Hugo Chávez took office in the country.

“I had the opportunity to see that, a narrative where you determine that the guy is a demon. From there you start playing everyone against him. That’s how it happened with Chávez. That’s how it happened to me, ”he said.

It is known that the collapse of democracy in Venezuela began with Chávez, with the co-option of the judiciary, the army and the electoral system. An example of the persecution that took place during the time of the late Venezuelan president is the story of Judge María Lourdes Afiuni, whose arrest was televised after giving a ruling that displeased Chávez.

“So, what I said to Maduro is that there is a narrative in the world that Venezuela does not have democracy and that he made mistakes. I said that it is his obligation to build his narrative with the true facts”, he added.

The Brazilian president even tried to show that Chávez was so “democratic” that he held referendums “for anything”, ignoring the accusations of electoral fraud in the country, warned for years by the Venezuelan opposition.

“It’s not possible that, out of 29 elections, the guy won 27 or 25. It’s not possible that, out of 23 governors, he elected 19. And he lost exactly in Chávez’s city. It’s not possible that he doesn’t have the minimum of democracy in Venezuela. I fought with Chávez because anything he wanted to do a referendum”, he said.

Collection of questionable statements

Lula’s declarations in defense of the dictator Nicolás Maduro were preceded by other questionable ones, such as those constant against agribusiness entrepreneurs, which he called “fascists and denialists”, and conclusions against Senator Sergio Moro (União Brasil-PR), that he allegedly carried out a “framing” in the event that a PCC plan to kidnap him was discovered in mid-March.

In addition to the episodes of national politics, Lula also made questionable statements about Russia’s war against Ukraine, that the invaded country would also be responsible for the conflict. The speech drew an immediate reaction from the White House, which said at the time that he “parrots Russian propaganda”.