• Brazil Lula does not have consensus to resurrect Unasur, in a Summit that is expected to be stormy for its strong support for Maduro

There are two Lulas: one is the one who, in an articulate and profound speech, proposed on Tuesday to his counterparts a concrete agenda for the development of South America. And another is the one that improvises, the one that approaches Nicolás Maduro without qualms and ends up frightening even those presidents who thought of giving a chance to the rebirth of Unasur, the Union of South American Nations.

The president of Brazil has convened a meeting of presidents in Brasilia, and no one snubbed him, practically all attended the meeting at the Itamaraty Palace, headquarters of the renowned Brazilian diplomacy. Only the Peruvian Dina Boluarte was missing, who did not obtain authorization from Parliament to travel abroad, but was represented by the head of the Council of Ministers.

Presidents such as Uruguayan Luis Lacalle Pou, Paraguayan Mario Abdo Benítez, Ecuadorian Guillermo Lasso and Boluarte's own envoy are of the idea that a new organization is not needed for the subcontinent to develop. Then came the joint press conference of Lula and Maduro and a fiery soflama of the Brazilian president that changed the axis of the debate and astonished locals and strangers.

"Comrade Maduro. You know the narrative that was built against Venezuela: anti-democracy, authoritarianism. So, I think Venezuela must show its narrative so that people effectively change their minds. There are people who don't even know where Venezuela is, but they know that Venezuela has democracy problems. Then it is necessary for you to build your narrative. And I think, from everything we've talked to you, that your narrative is going to be infinitely better than the narrative that exists against you. It is indeed inexplicable for one country to suffer 900 sanctions because there is another country that does not like that country. Inexplicable!"

Lula ignored – he does so whenever he refers to Venezuela – the violations of human rights, the dictatorial profile of Maduro and the exile of more than seven million Venezuelans. The criticism came even from sectors that have historically welcomed the governments of the Workers' Party (PT).

"Lula's astonishingly fawning rhetoric regarding Maduro — whose systematic repression and human rights abuses are well documented — is far more damaging to the Brazilian government's international reputation than anything Lula has said or done so far," said Oliver Stuenkel, a professor and researcher at the Getulio Vargas Foundation. of progressive profile.

Hours earlier, a high source from the Itamaraty Palace had acknowledged to EL MUNDO that the resurrection of Unasur, founded in 2008 and strongly ideologized, would not be possible. In those years Lula ruled in Brazil, Cristina Kirchner in Argentina, Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, Rafael Correa in Ecuador and Evo Morales in Bolivia, among others.

"There is no consensus. We will seek an instance of dialogue at the regional level," admitted the senior official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil.

During a recent interview with EL MUNDO, Lacalle Pou said that he did not see the need to refloat Unasur. This Tuesday, in the plenary of presidents, he reaffirmed that idea: "I think we have to end this tendency to create organizations. Let's take action. President Boric, among others, raised specific points, as in the case of disasters and other things. President Lasso did the same. It seems opportune to me, President Lula, to go to the actions, to review the actions. To return to the path that we have started in so many things and to retrace the paths that were wrong, I think it is the right time to do it."

Lacalle Pou, who defines Venezuela as a dictatorship, did not avoid the issue: "I was surprised when it was said that what happened in Venezuela is a narrative. The worst thing we can do is cover the sun with our hands."

In the welcome speech to the delegations, which he read without improvising, Lula was much more precise and less ideological.

"The combined GDP of our countries will reach four trillion dollars this year. Together we are the fifth largest economy in the world (...). We have the largest and most varied energy potential in the world, if we take into account the reserves of oil and gas, hydroelectricity, biofuels, nuclear, wind and solar energy and green hydrogen. We are a large and diverse supplier of food, we have more than a third of the world's freshwater reserves and a rich and little-known biodiversity, our soil is rich and varied in minerals, we are a region of peace, without weapons of mass destruction, where disputes are resolved by diplomatic means."

It has therefore proposed a series of concrete agreements for the development of the region. The debate stretched well into the afternoon in Brazil and would continue into a dinner, but the previous day's pro-Maduro soflama had already inevitably tainted tempers.

  • Lula da Silva
  • Nicolas Maduro

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