Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva received Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and backed him.
The reception of Maduro, widely ostracized internationally, is causing outrage.
The main opposition leaders accused Lula of trampling on democracy for receiving the “dictator” with state honors.
The criticism came mainly from members of the Liberal Party (PL), the party of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who broke off relations with Venezuela in 2019 and banned the Venezuelan leader from entering Brazil.
Brazilian Congressman Zé Trovão sent a letter Monday (29) to the US Embassy in Brazil asking for information on “what measures the United States government can take to capture dictator Nicolás Maduro,” who has met with President Lula in the capital, Brasilia.
“I express in this message my indignation at the presence of the Venezuelan dictator on Brazilian soil and ask for information on what measures the US government can take to capture this criminal,” wrote the federal congressman, who is close to former President Bolsonaro.
Most critics recalled that Maduro’s visit to Brazil was announced by the government only after the Venezuelan was already in the country and that Lula attributed all the accusations against the Venezuelan regime to “narratives” of the opposition.
“Maduro is accused of torture, disappearances, assaults, and crimes against humanity.”
“With the reception, Lula shows that he is not committed to democracy and our values,” stressed Senator Hamilton Mourão.
Many opposition members recalled that the US is “offering a US$15 million reward for Maduro’s arrest” and that the UN is investigating his regime for crimes against humanity.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) also criticized Lula.
“As in the case of Ukraine, Lula should understand that if Brazil wants to play a leadership role concerning Venezuela, it must start with an accurate – not a false – diagnosis of reality.”
“Authoritarianism in Venezuela is not a ‘constructed narrative.’ It is an undeniable reality,” Juanita Goebertus, director of the organization’s Americas Department, said on social media.
“Thank God the problem in Venezuela is only a narrative.”
“Can someone explain to the International Criminal Court why it should suspend its investigation of this regime for crimes against humanity? ”
“Is it naivety or ideological blindness?” added José Miguel Vivanco, former Americas Division of Human Rights Watch director.
The nongovernmental organization Provea told the Brazilian president that in 2023 alone, some 8,900 victims overwhelmingly supported the International Criminal Court to reopen its investigation into crimes against humanity.
“This is not a ‘constructed narrative,’ but part of a systematic plan against civilians and dissidents that the UN has warned about. We ask for respect for all victims who deserve justice and reparations that the Venezuelan state is not granting,” the NGO wrote on its Twitter account.
Finally, former Bolivian President Tuto Quiroga said he was sorry to see Lula as Putin’s son and Maduro’s godfather.
“It hurts to see the president of great Brazil, the big brother of our region, offering Russia the territory of Ukraine and then embracing the tyrant of Venezuela, arguing that he only has a ‘narrative’ problem,” Quiroga wrote on his Twitter account.
Lula had previously affirmed that even today, there are “prejudices” against Venezuela, which he promised to overcome by promoting “full integration” between the two countries.
Without commenting on reports of human rights violations in Venezuela, Lula asserted, “I’ve been to countries that don’t know where Venezuela is, but they say there is a dictatorship in Venezuela.”
‘Nicolás Maduro, you have to deconstruct this narrative (…).”
“Narratives are constructed against people. Nicolás Maduro knows very well the narrative they have constructed against Venezuela.”
“They know the narrative they have constructed about authoritarianism and anti-democracy.”
They have the means to deconstruct that narrative,” Lula added.
The Brazilian president also called it “highly absurd” that democratic countries in Europe and the Americas recognize opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate president.
“I told the Europeans that I don’t understand how a continent that exercises democracy as extensively as Europe can support the idea that an impostor is a president,” Lula stressed about Guaidó.
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