By Nehomar Hernández
A delegation of the Brazilian government was in Caracas this week to meet with the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and “establish, once again, the exchange of spaces for fluid dialogue” amid the relaunching of relations between the South American giant and Venezuela since Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva became President, last January.
Although not with the same media intensity as his Colombian peer, Gustavo Petro, the leftist Brazilian President, has been plotting the recomposition of ties with Caracas through different emissaries.
For several years, former president Jair Bolsonaro led the regional opposition to Maduro, to the point of having broken diplomatic relations with the Chavista regime in 2019.
For example, Celso Amorim, one of Lula’s main political advisors, was also in the Venezuelan capital in March.
On that occasion, the Venezuelan regime’s official statement described the meeting as aimed at “strengthening diplomatic relations” between the two countries.
Amorim’s relations with Chavismo are long-standing, as he played a very active role in friendship with the Venezuelan regime during his time at the Brazilian Foreign Ministry between 2003 and 2010.
The restructuring of Venezuela-Brazil relations has covered the broadest aspects.
Last April, the ambassador appointed by Lula to deal with “climate change”, Luis Alberto Figuereido, was also in Caracas.
On that occasion, the official met with Maduro at the Miraflores Palace to discuss the situation of the Amazon rainforest and how it is being hit by “the predatory capitalist system”.
Now, this week the director of the Brazilian Cooperation Agency, Ruy Pereira, and the Chargé d’Affaires of the Brazilian Embassy in Caracas, Flavio Helmold Macieira, were present at the government palace in Caracas, as well as Maduro, his son, Nicolás Maduro Guerra, the Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil and the Chavista Vice-Minister for Latin America, Rander Peña.
Although Maduro and Lula da Silva have not managed to meet in any forum since the Brazilian leftist leader returned to power, the cooperation between the two is undeniable.
Since January, the Brazilian President has vented that only “dialogue” between the regime and opposition forces will allow Venezuelans to escape the political crisis they have been suffering for years.
After arriving at the Planalto Palace for the first time in 2002, the Brazilian President has been an exceptional witness to all the attempts of dialogue and negotiation made in Venezuela to achieve the demands for democracy and freedom that the citizens have been raising for years.
However, at this point, the Brazilian President prefers to maintain the line of collaboration with the Chavista regime, trying to hide it under a precarious mask of neutrality.
If Gustavo Petro has become Nicolás Maduro’s chancellor in the world, making representations to the United States so that the economic sanctions against the leaders of the Venezuelan regime be lifted, Lula has opted rather for the path of discreet collaboration, periodically sending emissaries to Caracas to recompose the relations between both countries inch by inch.
It is the old trick of the good cop and the bad cop, where each one has a role in the plot to normalize the Chavista regime in the eyes of the international community.
With information from LGI
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