Press Review of the Americas

In the News: Lula rehabilitates Maduro and wants to give a new impetus to Unasur

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with his Brazilian counterpart Lula, May 29, 2023 in Brasilia. © AP/Gustavo Moreno

Text by: Achim Lippold Follow

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Brazilian President Lula welcomes this Tuesday, May 30, a dozen heads of state of the region with the aim of "relaunching the integration process" and "breathing new life into the regional organization," writes the newspaper Correio Braziliense, and all this under the Brazilian "leadership". Brazil also wants to rehabilitate Venezuela, under US sanctions. That's why Lula met with his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro on Monday, May 29, on the eve of the summit.

This bilateral meeting between Lula and Maduro is making headlines in both countries. "A historic meeting supposed to give a new impetus to Brazilian foreign policy," headlines the newspaper Folha de São Paulo, which does not hesitate to describe the Venezuelan president as a "dictator". Nicolas Maduro has found in Lula an important ally in the region, writes Estadão, an ally that turns a blind eye – at least officially – to human rights violations in Venezuela.

According to Lula, authoritarianism in Venezuela is a constructed narrative, he said yesterday at a press conference. An opinion that is not shared by the Venezuelan NGO Provea. "No, Mr. Lula, authoritarianism is not a narrative, it is a reality, it is a systematic program used against the civilian population and dissidents," the NGO said on its Twitter account, a reaction taken up on the front page of the website of El National, a Venezuelan newspaper close to the opposition.

Investigation into arms trafficking for the benefit of the Haitian Episcopal Church

In Haiti, police continue their investigation into arms trafficking involving the country's Episcopal Church. It has launched a wanted notice against a certain Johnny Doctor, senior executive at the Ministry of the Economy, can we read on the website of the newspaper Le National. This wanted notice is motivated by "explosive" statements by a member of the Episcopal Church, writes The National. According to this testimony, Johnny Docteur would be co-responsible for the trafficking of weapons for the benefit of the religious organization, a traffic that would have lasted more than four years.

Gang warfare continues to rage in Haiti

At least ten civilians were killed in clashes between gangs in Artibonite, writes the newspaper Le Nouvelliste, citing an official of the district of Saint-Marc. According to the latter, the victims would have, in the absence of police protection, chosen to join a group that was fighting another gang.

Torture and ill-treatment in Salvadoran prisons

The NGO Cristosal published yesterday a report on the situation in the country's prisons, after the declaration of the state of emergency. According to this report cited among others by Prensa Grafica, 153 prisoners died between March 2022 and April 2023. According to a forensic doctor, at least 29 people died as a result of torture. The newspaper reports on the case of Omar, who was arrested at the age of 24, in full health. After seven months in detention, he suffered from malnutrition, dehydration and severe anaemia.

During a court hearing, the judge addressed a relative of Omar's with these words: "I have good news and bad news: the good news is that Omar is innocent and the bad news is that he suffers from end-stage kidney disease." Omar died two days after his release. More than 60,000 people have been jailed under President Nayib Bukele's state of emergency to fight gangs. Gangs that continue to plague the country.

To fight against this scourge, former Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes had decided to reach out to the "maras". On Monday, May 29, he was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison for "making a pact" with criminal gangs. But it is unlikely that he will serve his sentence, as he is in exile in Nicaragua.

Biden's campaign targets Trump's competitors

The teams of President Joe Biden, candidate for re-election, are going into campaign mode. It is to read on the website of the online newspaper Politico. Joe Biden dreams of facing Donald Trump again next year. That's why his teams target his competitors like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in their campaign spots. The idea is to pin down their ultra-conservative profile, to present them as extremists who are no longer in tune with the majority of the American population.

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  • Brazil
  • Venezuela
  • Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
  • Nicolas Maduro
  • Press review
  • Press Review of the Americas