From Brasilia
Disappointed with Nicolás Maduro and more than irritated with Javier Milei. The president Lula da Silva He is upset with his Venezuelan colleague and “companion” while analyzing theto diplomatic tension after the authorization for Brazil to represent Argentine interests in Caracas was revoked.
The anger is no less with his colleague, and never treated as a “comrade”, Milei who from Buenos Aires again attacked the PT leader despite the efforts to protect the official residence in Venezuela.
Emergency meeting
This Sunday The president held an emergency meeting at the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia, with the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maria Laura da Rocha. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira, participated remotely, as he is in Oman on an official visit.
According to government sources who spoke to various media outlets, the progressive leader defended the permanence of Brazilian officials in the embassy until Milei chooses another government to represent him before Maduro.
Lula and the diplomats also discussed the situation of Six allies of opposition leader María Corina Machado remain sheltered in the building located in the exclusive Lomas de la Mercedes neighborhood of Caracas. One of the asylum seekers said that alleged government agents cut off the power supply to the diplomatic mission, whose entrance was blocked.
At the same time, Miraflores Palace has reported that the opposition members housed in Argentine territory – such is the status of the embassy – are taking advantage of this cover to organize terrorist operations and even an assassination.
Amorim
During the meeting on Sunday, the escape of the former presidential candidate was also discussed, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutiawho after being welcomed at the Dutch embassy, received asylum in Spain.
The international advisor to the Presidency, Celso Amorimwhom Maduro and González Urrutia received separately on July 29 in Caracas, one day after the presidential elections, did not participate in the meeting in Alvorada because he was in Russia.
During his visit to Venezuela a month and a half ago, the last of several he made since Lula’s return to government in 2023, when bilateral relations were reestablished, the advisor avoided meeting with Maria Corina Machado.
This Saturday, from Moscow, Amorim referred to the current situation at the Embassy. “I find Venezuela’s attitude very strange. The international protection of interests (of third countries) is a well-known institution of international law.” The decision to withdraw permission for Brazil to oversee the embassy “strikes my attention and really shocks me (…) it is something that has no place, of course it will have political repercussions.”
“It leaves a lot to be desired”
Before receiving the acting chancellor Maria Laura da Rocha at the official residence, Lula had declared that the government of Nicolás Maduro “leaves much to be desired” for not having submitted the minutes of the July elections. He said that, like his Colombian colleague Gustavo Petro, with whom he has had telephone conversations, he does not intend to recognize Maduro’s reelection until this documentation is released.
He also refused to accept as valid the minutes presented by Machado, whose authenticity was questioned by Amorim.
Mediation
During an interview given on Friday to a Catholic radio station in the state of Goias, Lula recalled the good relationship he cultivated with Hugo Chavezwho in 2003 accepted his proposal to create a Group of Friends of Venezuela, after the coup d’état of April 2002. He mentioned that the United States and Spain participated in this ad hoc organization, whose presidents at the time, George W. Bush and José María Aznar, had no affinity with Chávez. They were so anti-Chavez that they had been the first to recognize the de facto president, Pedro Carmona.
Imbued with this negotiating vocation, Lula told Goiania radio that he will continue to seek ways to achieve a détente, and to do so he proposed the formation of a coalition government between the government and the opposition, or the holding of new elections. Two suggestions that have already been rejected by Maduro and Machado supporters.
And to close his remarks, he criticized the United States economic embargo. “I am not going to break relations (with Venezuela) and I reject the blockade”“Because the blockade does not harm Maduro, it harms the people. I believe that the people should not be victims of that.”
Pending call
A source from the Planalto Palace told this reporter that beyond the shocks in the relationship with Caracas, Lula maintains his intention to call his Venezuelan colleague, but no date has been set yetwho will continue consultations with Gustavo Petro and will probably visit Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in his country between the end of this month and the beginning of October.
Speculation about a call with Maduro has been the order of the day. Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo said it was “probably” going to take place last week, a speculation that was emphatically denied by Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello.
mercy
Lula’s commitment to compromise has a limit called Javier Milei. Last week during negotiations to facilitate dialogue between the Venezuelan government and opposition, and resolve the crisis triggered by the ban on representing Argentine interests in Caracas, The news reached Planalto that Milei had called Lula a “tyrant” for endorsing the blocking of the social network X ordered by the Supreme Federal Court.
The diary The Globe He consulted sources from the Presidency and the Foreign Ministry about the impact of this statement. The officials considered the Argentine president’s statements “unacceptable,” and recalled that a little over a month ago he requested Brazilian help to assume representation in Venezuela.
Brasilia’s response to the Casa Rosada, which is being analyzed, could range from suspending high-level government meetings to summoning the ambassador to Buenos Aires, Julio Bitelli, according to the newspaper.
