By Lisandra Paraguassu
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday defended dialogue as the only solution to the Venezuelan crisis and said he expects the return of diplomatic normality between Brazil and Venezuela within two months, after a bilateral meeting. between both scheduled for this afternoon have been cancelled.
Lula and Maduro were due to meet in Buenos Aires on the sidelines of a meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), but the Venezuelan president canceled his trip to the Argentine capital. Lula stated, in a press conference alongside the Argentine president, Alberto Fernández, that the meeting “will be for another occasion”.
Lula defended Maduro and said he hoped that within two months bilateral relations between Brazil and Venezuela would be resumed, with openings of embassies in both countries.
“Brazil will restore diplomatic relations with Venezuela. We want Venezuela to have an embassy in Brazil, for Brazil to have an embassy in Venezuela, and we are going to establish a civilized relationship between two autonomous, free and independent states,” he said.
In the evening, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil announced the granting of an agrément –a formal document for him to act in the country– to Manuel Vicente Vadell Aquino as ambassador of Venezuela in Brazil, after a meeting in Buenos Aires between Minister Mauro Vieira and the Venezuelan Chancellor , Yvan Gil.
Diplomatic relations between Brazil and Venezuela were severed by the government of former President Jair Bolsonaro in 2020. Even before that, in March 2019, Bolsonaro signed a decree banning the entry of the high-ranking government of Nicolás Maduro, including the Venezuelan president, in Brazil, which made it impossible for Maduro to attend Lula’s inauguration.
Under Bolsonaro, Brazil recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s self-declared president, accrediting his ambassador to the country – which will now be reversed.
Lula criticized Guaidó, saying that the recognition of him as president of Venezuela by several countries without having been elected by the people was “an abominable thing for democracy”.
Venezuela has faced sanctions from the United States and the European Union since Guaidó was recognized by the United States and Western allies as the country’s legitimate leader after deeming Maduro’s 2018 re-election a sham.
“In the same way that I am against the Russian territorial occupation of Ukraine, I am against too much interference in the Venezuelan process,” he said.
“To solve the problem of Venezuela, we need to solve it with dialogue, not with blockades. We will solve it with dialogues, and not with occupation threats”, he said.
The president also criticized the economic embargo imposed by the United States on Cuba and celebrated the presence of Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, at the CELAC summit in Buenos Aires. Lula will have a bilateral meeting with the Cuban president on the sidelines of the summit on Tuesday.
“I am convinced that Celac will be very important for Latin America”, said Lula, standing next to Fernández.
“I hope that soon Cuba will be able to return to a process of normality and the blockade of Cuba that has lasted for more than 60 years, without any need, will end… Therefore, Brazil and the countries that make up CELAC have to treat Venezuela and Cuba with a lot of affection, and whatever we can help solve the problems, we will help.”
(Reporting by Lisandra ParaguassuText by Pedro FonsecaEditing by Flávia Marreiro)
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