Lula undermines own effort to unite South America by supporting Maduro dictatorship

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva tried to demonstrate political prestige by bringing together eleven heads of state at the Meeting of Presidents of South America on Tuesday (30) in Brasilia. His objective was to propose to the neighbors to make an effort to form a bloc of countries in the region to negotiate with the rest of the world from a more advantageous position. But Lula undermined his own initiative by relativizing the Venezuelan dictatorship and displeased both the right and the left.

In a bilateral meeting with Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro on Monday, Lula said that Venezuela is “a victim of a narrative of anti-democracy and authoritarianism.”

“If I want to win a battle, I need to build a narrative to destroy my potential enemy. You know the narrative that was built against Venezuela, of anti-democracy and authoritarianism,” said Lula.

But the Venezuelan government is liable at the International Criminal Court for crimes of murder, imprisonment, torture, rape and persecution of political dissidents. Maduro has been in power for ten years, holding controversial elections whose legitimacy is not recognized by the international community.

Lula’s support for the Venezuelan dictatorship has become one of the main topics among the heads of state. “I was surprised when it was said that what happened in Venezuela is a narrative. You know what we think about Venezuela from the government of Venezuela,” said Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou in a video that was posted on his Twitter account. Instagram and then deleted.

Chilean President Gabriel Boric, of the left-wing Social Convergence party, spoke against Lula’s position. “What happens in the country is not a narrative, it is a reality, it is serious, and I had the opportunity to see it up close in the faces and pain of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans,” said Boric

Even the president of Argentina, Alberto Fenández, who has been receiving almost unconditional support from Lula, discreetly skewered the Brazilian. “The construction of democracy and human rights in Latin America is a fight that has cost many people their lives, and we cannot lose that,” he said in a speech.

The other heads of state or government representatives preferred not to make public statements after Lula’s controversial speeches.

Lula defends the restructuring of the block founded by leftist governments in 2008

Itamaraty, the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, started announcing the meeting of South American leaders about a month ago. But the political articulation has been taking place since the beginning of the government and is part of Lula’s political agenda to make Brazil more relevant on the international stage – an objective that he has been trying to achieve since his first term.

The meeting of South American heads of state in Brazil in the first half of Lula’s term was supposed to be strategic, a demonstration of diplomatic strength both for the domestic public and for the international community.

“This meeting was called for us to discuss whether we want to function as a bloc to negotiate with another bloc or if we are going to try to negotiate alone,” said Lula. The declaration was given in the midst of speeches in which Lula reinforced the challenge to American geopolitical hegemony and exalted the economic group of the BRICS, formed by Brazil, India, South Africa and the autocracies of China and Russia.

Lula announced the creation of a group of foreign ministers to direct the formation of a South American bloc. “This group that was created, of chancellors, has 120 days to present, in a next meeting, the proposals that they intend to conclude”.

He hinted that the way to achieve this objective would be the restructuring of Unasur, the Union of South American Nations, created in 2008 by leftist governments. Lula said that he does not want to keep Unasur as it was created, as many governments did not participate in its creation.

Reporting a conversation with his peers, Lula said he was the president who has the most experience in the region (for being in his third term and having participated in the creation of Unasur) and therefore it was “natural that I invited all the presidents of South America for us to talk a little”, he said.

Uruguayan President Lacalle Pou has already stated that he will not participate in Lula’s new UNASUR. Boric, despite criticizing the Venezuelan dictatorship, said he approved the return of Venezuela to the discussions of the countries of South America. “But that doesn’t mean turning a blind eye,” he said. In January, Boric had been favorable to Unasur.

But Boric needs approval from the Legislature for his country to join Unasur. The “leftist” history of the bloc and Lula’s support for Maduro’s dictatorial government in recent days should weigh against the Chilean parliament, which is mostly made up of right-wing congressmen.

Bolsonaro removed Brazil from Unasur after seeing ideological interference in the bloc

The Argentine president, on the other hand, supported Lula in the idea of ​​recreating Unasur. “We will try to make regional unity a policy for all countries. We have to let our children know the importance of being part of Unasur. It did not help us to be so divided, and the world found us divided at the worst moment, the pandemic . May he never find us disunited again”, said Alberto Fenández.

When the political scenario in South America began to tilt to the right, in mid-2017, the group suffered from these changes. Some heads of state started to defend that Unasur was nothing more than an ideological bloc and, therefore, could not fulfill the objectives designed for it. Former President Jair Bolsonaro removed Brazil from the bloc during his government.

Lacalle Pou has been one of the biggest critics of the initiative. “We must stop this tendency to create organizations. Let’s take action and let’s not waste time, because life ends and governments too”, said Pou.

Paraguay also has resistance with the formation of the group after an incident in 2012. At the time, the organization “suspended” the country’s participation after Fernando Lugo, from the left, was impeached as president. The attitude was understood as an interference of the group in internal affairs in the country.

Venezuelan journalists said they were betting on Lula’s support for the Maduro government

Venezuelan journalists who spoke informally with Gazeta do Povo said they were hopeful that Lula would help Venezuela. The country would see in Brazil the hope of improving basic living conditions.

But, despite seeing Lula’s proposal to form a bloc as positive, they said they had doubts whether this was really possible. They requested anonymity because there is repression of freedom of opinion in Venezuela.

Maduro’s security guards and members of Lula’s Institutional Security Office demonstrated their appetite for freedom of the press at the end of the meeting, distributing blows among journalists who tried to approach the Venezuelan dictator.