CARACAS: Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro has visited Brazil for the first time since he was banned by former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro in 2019.
Maduro was received by the new president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, ahead of a summit of Latin American leaders in Brasilia.
“What’s important about Maduro coming here is that it’s the beginning of Maduro’s return,” Lula said.
According to the BBC, Maduro talked of a “new era” in bilateral relations. Lula said the region should tackle poverty.
Several countries question Maduro’s authority, calling him a tyrant.
Lula welcomed his counterpart on Monday in the Brazilian capital and said that his own comeback had occurred five months ago. He was alluding to when he returned to power after defeating Bolsonaro in closely contested elections for president.
According to Maduro, Venezuela is open to Brazilian investment, who also emphasised that the two nations “must be united, from now on and always.”
Lula used the trip to blast US sanctions against Venezuela, stating that there was a “constructed narrative of authoritarianism” about the country and that the measures were unwarranted.
Maduro’s last trip to Brazil was in 2015. But in the past, Lula had cordial relationships with both Nicolás Maduro and his late political mentor, Hugo Chávez.
In an indication that the alliance will likely endure, Lula criticised the “extremely exaggerated” US sanctions against Venezuela and questioned why Washington would “impose 900 sanctions because they don’t get along.”
He pushed his South America ally to create a new “narrative” about authoritarianism, claiming that an unjust and “constructed” one had been created around Venezuela’s democratic situation.
The accusations that Lula is complicit in the alleged human rights abuses and lack of free and fair elections committed by the Maduro regime have been criticised by his detractors.
The visit gave Maduro the chance to reiterate his demand that the US sanctions be repealed, stating he would ask the other South American countries to reject them as a regional bloc.
Several South American nations, including Argentina, Bolivia, and Colombia in addition to Brazil, are now headed by left-wing politicians and may offer their backing to such an idea.
Uncertainty surrounds whether such a requirement would actually affect the Biden administration’s Venezuelan policy.
Since Maduro was elected in 2013, he had grown increasingly authoritarian.
His crackdown on opponents eventually led to the US imposing sanctions on his government and recognising opposition leader Juan Guaidó as interim president in 2019 after a contested polls.
Last December, Venezuela’s opposition National Assembly voted to dissolve its parallel government and remove Guaidó.
Guaidó was recognised by several Western countries, including the US, but failed to oust Lula.
