PT member says that the meeting, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting, will be to combat “extremism”
The president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) stated this Monday (5.Aug.2024) that it invited the president of Chile, Gabriel Boric (Convergência Social, left), to participate in a meeting of democratic leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (United Nations), organized by Brazil and the Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez (Psoe, center-left).
According to Lula, Boric is a natural ally to ensure workers’ rights. “That is why I was pleased to invite President Boric to the meeting of democratic leaders against extremism that Pedro Sánchez and I will organize in New York, in the context of the UN General Assembly.”declared the PT member.
In this context, Lula cited the joint statement he issued with the presidents of Colombia, Gustavo Pedro, and Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, in relation to the electoral process considered controversial in Venezuela.
Shortly after the Venezuelan election, Lula and Boric disagreed. Both demanded the release of the results from the electronic voting machines in the neighboring country after the Venezuelan National Electoral Council declared President Nicolás Maduro (United Socialist Party of Venezuela, left) reelected.
The opposition has so far contested the result, saying that there was fraud and that Edmundo González Urrutia (Democratic Unitary Platform, center-right) is the winner of the election.
At the time, Boric was emphatic in saying that he would not recognize the victory of the Chavista leader until the results could be verified, including by international observers. He said that he was “hard to believe” in the result. The Chilean ambassador to Venezuela, Arévalo Méndez, was expelled on July 29 because of the questions.
Lula, on the other hand, downplayed the situation. He said on July 30 that “there is nothing serious” or of “not normal” in the electoral process of the neighboring country. He stated that it is up to the courts to decide on the result and criticized the press for treating the case as if it were the “World War III”. Despite making demands, Brazilian diplomacy adopted a tone of neutrality to position itself as a mediator in the dialogue between Maduro and the opposition.
*Reporter Mariana Haubert traveled to Santiago, Chile, at the invitation of ApexBrasil (Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency).
#Lula #invited #Boric #meeting #progressive #presidents