Brazil criticizes Venezuela for increasing personal attacks

São Paulo. The Brazilian government broke its silence on Friday over rising tensions with neighboring Venezuela, expressing surprise at “the offensive tone” adopted by Venezuelan authorities towards Brazil.

In recent days, Venezuela’s government has stepped up its criticism of Brazil’s foreign affairs officials and even President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a long-time ally.

“Choosing personal attacks and rhetorical intensification, instead of political and diplomatic channels, is not in line with the respectful way in which the Brazilian government treats Venezuela and its people,” Brazil’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The government of President Nicolás Maduro intensified its criticism of its neighbor, after a senior advisor to the president of Brazil said that the country had not supported Venezuela’s candidacy to join the BRICS bloc of emerging economies at the recent summit held in Russia.

That decision added to tensions between the two nations over the disputed results of Venezuela’s presidential election in July, and calls from Brazil and other countries for transparency.

The Ministry of Popular Power for Foreign Affairs of Venezuela said on Wednesday that it summoned Brazil’s chargé d’affaires in Venezuela, Breno Hermann, to “express its firmest rejection of the recurring interfering and rude statements by spokespersons authorized by the Brazilian government.”

The ministry also criticized Celso Amorim, former Brazilian Foreign Minister and special advisor to Lula, whom it said, “behaving more like a messenger of North American imperialism, has impertinently dedicated himself to making value judgments about processes that “They only correspond to Venezuelans.” He added that his actions threaten the “ties that unite both countries.”

“He who messes with Venezuela dries up”

Initially, Brazil’s diplomatic approach was to avoid comment to prevent escalating tensions, a Foreign Ministry source told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter. However, this position changed after Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Police shared an image on social media Thursday showing what appeared to be Lula’s silhouette on Brazil’s national flag with the text: “He who messes with Venezuela it dries up.”

In Friday’s statement, Brazil’s Foreign Ministry said it values ​​non-intervention and fully respects the sovereignty of each neighboring country. The statement explained that Brazil’s interest in Venezuela’s electoral process stems from its role as a witness to the 2023 Barbados Accords, in which Venezuela’s government and opposition agreed to electoral conditions.

“The Brazilian government remains convinced that partnerships must be based on open dialogue, respect for differences and mutual understanding,” the statement said.

Brazil did not support Venezuela’s integration into the BRICS group

In a hearing Tuesday before Brazilian lawmakers, Amorim acknowledged the “unrest” between the two countries, attributing it to the Maduro government’s refusal to release detailed election results. He said improving diplomatic relations “will depend on the actions” of Venezuela, without providing details.

Venezuelan electoral authorities claimed they were unable to publish detailed results because their website was hacked. At the same time, the main opposition coalition secured vote count sheets from more than 80 percent of the electronic voting machines used throughout the country, posted them online and declared that its candidate, former diplomat Edmundo González, had defeated to Maduro by a wide margin.

After the July 28 election, Lula, Colombian President Gustavo Petro and then-Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador — all leftists and friends of Maduro — expressed their views regarding Venezuela’s electoral deadlock to try to calm things down. . But no concrete results were achieved, and since then Maduro has consolidated his government, reorganized his cabinet and imprisoned more than 2,000 opponents.

The BRICS bloc, which initially included Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has expanded to include Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Brazil opposed including Venezuela in the group’s summit this month.

“Brazil does not want indefinite expansion,” Amorim, Lula’s special adviser, told lawmakers. “Brazil believes that its members should be influential countries that can help represent the region. And Venezuela today does not meet these conditions, in our opinion.”