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South America Renews Integration Efforts, Maduro Floats BRICS Entry in Historic Bilateral Meeting with Lula in Brazil

June 21, 2023

 

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Brazilian President Lula da Silva meet at the Planalto Presidential Palace in Brasilia, May 30, 2023 venezuelanalysis	Leaders from 12 South American nations agreed to revive regional integration mechanisms during a summit held in Brasilia, June 1, 2023 venezuelanalysis

 

South America Renews Integration Efforts, Venezuela Praises ‘Tolerance Spirit’

Brazil’s Lula da Silva announced that a new roadmap for regional integration will be presented in 120 days.

Caracas, June 1, 2023 (venezuelanalysis.com) –

Leaders from 12 South American nations have agreed to revive regional integration mechanisms during a summit held in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil.

The meeting was marked by the welcomed participation of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro following years of diplomatic fissures.

Tuesday’s summit was inaugurated by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, who called for integration to be a permanent goal, leaving aside political differences and focusing on the region’s challenges and inequalities.

“We need to leave strong roots for the next generations. Allowing disagreements to prevail would have a high cost [...] as long as we remain disunited, we will not succeed in making South America a continent developed to its full potential,” said Lula from the Itamaraty Palace.

The Brazilian leader urged for the restoration of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), recalling that the body created in 2008 successfully implemented cooperation initiatives in areas such as healthcare, infrastructure, defense, and trade, reducing historical inequalities with hunger declining from 15 to 5 percent in two decades. UNASUR was effectively suspended following the arrival of right-wing governments in several member-states.

“Unfortunately, these advances have been interrupted in recent years. If today we take the first steps to resume dialogue as a region, the context we face is even more challenging,” explained President Lula naming the current climate crisis and the human suffering and economic hardships left by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Lula added that a new roadmap for regional integration will be created by the countries’ foreign affairs ministers and presented in 120 days for approval.

The presidential summit concluded with the “Brasilia Consensus”, a document gathering nine agreements to advance the region’s efforts for unity. This includes maintaining regular dialogue among countries and promoting cooperation initiatives that prioritize health, food security, the environment, trade, migration, border security and integration.

“The presidents reaffirmed the common vision of South America as a region of peace and cooperation, based on dialogue and respect for the diversity of our peoples, committed to democracy and human rights [and] the upholding of sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs,” reads the text.

For his part, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said that the Brasilia summit was an “extraordinary opportunity for rapprochement” and praised the respectful dialogue. The event was the first convened in nine years gathering all presidents from South America, except Perú.

"There will always be differences in proposals, criteria and ideas, but the most important thing is that there has been a debate, a dialogue with a spirit of tolerance and frankness," stated Maduro to the press after the meeting.

The Venezuelan leader stressed that as the world advances towards multipolarity, South America cannot be left behind. “What prevents us from having a working agenda, a basic functional schedule to meet every six months and debate our region’s most fundamental issues?”, he asked.

During his visit to Brazil, the first since 2015, President Maduro held a bilateral meeting with Lula da Silva to seal the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Caracas and Brasilia. The two presidents signed a Memorandum of Understanding in the agri-food sector and discussed future cooperation, including Venezuela's potential application for membership in the BRICS bloc, a proposal that has been welcomed by Brazil.

For his part, the Brazilian president welcomed Venezuela’s participation in multilateral forums and criticized the US-led economic sanctions against the country, calling for their immediate removal. Lula also rejected the narrative about the Caribbean nation’s “authoritarianism and lack of democracy.”

Another meeting on the sidelines of the summit took place between Maduro and Colombian President Gustavo Petro. They reached an agreement to search for the remains of victims killed during Colombia's armed conflict that were reportedly buried in Venezuelan territory, according to recent confessions by former paramilitary commander Salvatore Mancuso before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) tribunal.

Finally, the Venezuelan head of state revised the bilateral agenda with Bolivia’s President Luis Arce and shook hands for the first time with Argentina’s Alberto Fernández, reaffirming the countries’ efforts to normalize relations.

South America Renews Integration Efforts, Venezuela Praises ‘Tolerance Spirit’ | Venezuelanalysis.com

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Venezuela‘s Maduro Floats BRICS Entry in ‘Historic’ Bilateral Meeting with Lula in Brazil

“Today, a new era in relations between our countries, between our peoples, begins,” said Maduro.

Mexico City, Mexico, May 30, 2023 (venezuelanalysis.com) –

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro traveled to Brazil as part of an official visit to meet with his counterpart Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva where the pair discussed regional and international cooperation, including the potential entry of Venezuela into the BRICS bloc.

“This is a historic moment. After eight years, President Nicolás Maduro is back to visiting Brazil and we have recovered our right to have a foreign policy with the seriousness we have always had, especially with the countries that border Brazil,” said Lula in a press conference from the capital of Brasilia.

The high-level meeting comes as part of joint efforts to strengthen bilateral ties following the restoration of diplomatic and economic relations after years of tension under Lula’s predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, who embraced Washington regime change plots against Maduro, backing the so-called “interim government" of opposition figure Juan Guaidó.

“Venezuela was subjected to an extremist ideological model. Suddenly all the doors and windows in Brazil were closed, all of them [...] Using this extremist approach, an attempt was made alongside other governments to impose a non-existent government on the Venezuelan people. Today that is in the past,” said Maduro.

Da Silva reiterated his repudiation of Washington’s “maximum pressure” strategy toward Venezuela, mentioning that he fought with other world leaders over their recognition of Guaidó, which he deemed the “most absurd thing in the world”. After taking office in January, Lula restored diplomatic relations with the democratically elected government in Caracas.

“Today, a new era in relations between our countries, between our peoples, begins and in this new era, the building of a new map of cooperation and joint work must accompany it,” said Maduro before expressing Venezuela’s desire to apply for membership in the BRICS bloc.

The Brazilian president signaled his support for Venezuela’s entry into the development bloc comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The alliance does not have a formal entry process but requires unanimous consent from existing members. While many countries have expressed interest, the last country to formally join was South Africa in 2010.

Lula again expressed his desire to see international trade move away from the hegemony of the US dollar. Dilma Rousseff, Lula’s former chief of staff who succeeded him in office, was elected in March as the president of the New Development Bank, also known as the BRICS bank.

Under Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chávez, Venezuela has strongly backed counter-hegemonic development efforts and blocs. The US-led sanctions regime on Venezuela is made possible in part due to the dominance of the US dollar as the monetary instrument for international trade.

In a subsequent tweet, Maduro said Venezuela, were it to join BRICS, was ready to contribute to the “construction of the new world geopolitical architecture that is being born.”

Lula’s support for Venezuela’s bid to join the bloc is an example of his independent foreign policy approach, with the Brazilian president also resisting efforts to join the US and NATO’s support for Ukraine despite heavy diplomatic pressure.

Monday’s bilateral meeting likewise focused on reactivating trade between the two countries, which fell precipitously after Bolsonaro’s recognition of Guaidó, severely impacting populations on both sides of the border. The pair also discussed efforts to advance regional integration.

Lula and Maduro will be joined Tuesday by the rest of South America's leaders for the first regional summit in nine years. That meeting is expected to involve the reactivation of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), a regional integration mechanism that was suspended after the exit of various countries in previous years.

Late last year a group of high-profile Latin American political leaders called on South America’s sitting presidents to reconstitute UNASUR, arguing conditions were ripe for its return.

Regional integration has been a longstanding goal of politicians throughout Latin America and was a priority for the Chávez government in Venezuela. Efforts to advance in that aim reached a milestone in 2004 with the creation of the South American Community of Nations, the body that would eventually become UNASUR in 2008 and whose constitutive treaty would come into force in 2011 after ratification by member-states.

Venezuela‘s Maduro Floats BRICS Entry in ‘Historic’ Bilateral Meeting with Lula in Brazil | Venezuelanalysis.com

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