• Latin America Lula proposes a South American alliance, but his closeness to Maduro generates rejection

Freed from any diplomatic ties or a hint of prudence, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva closed the turbulent South American Summit with a renewed and fiery defense of Nicolás Maduro's Venezuela. So much so, that the leader of Latin America's largest economy said he felt reflected in the head of the Venezuelan regime: he believes that the two have been victims of a narrative that sought to destroy their political careers.

"At the time they did it with me," Lula said Tuesday night, drawing a parallel with his imprisonment for corruption between 2018 and 2019. After almost two years in jail, the three-time Brazilian president was released for procedural technical reasons.

"A narrative was built against (Hugo) Chavez, I could see that, it is decided that the guy is a demon, and from that everyone plays against him. It happened with Chavez, it happened with me, the number of hours of television, radio, 60 magazine covers to create a narrative against me that nobody could prove later..."

"That's why I told Maduro that there is a narrative in the world that there is no democracy in Venezuela and that his obligation is to create a narrative with true facts. And I'm going to say something I shouldn't say, because it was a conversation between presidents. I told him: 'you have to sign a document with the signature of all the opposition parties, Parliament, all social movements, governors, in which respect for the sovereignty of Venezuela is requested.' Because a person who did not exist was elected as president. And Venezuela suffers from a blockade that is inhumane. Venezuela deserves respect."

Ignited, Lula reinforced the supposed parallelism between Venezuela and Brazil, between Maduro and himself: "Right here we have had a troglodyte who does not believe in the results of the elections and wanted to carry out a coup d'état on January 8." "You are journalists and you know what I'm talking about: whoever builds the first narrative wins the game," he added.

"I always defended the idea that each country is sovereign to decide its political regime and its internal affairs," added the 77-year-old veteran head of state, who took office on January 1 this year.

On Monday, Lula had unleashed a great controversy by pointing out that the human rights violations of Venezuela's authoritarian regime, which sent more than seven million people into exile, are part of a "narrative" that the Maduro government should be responsible for countering by creating its own.

Those statements were confronted by several presidents. During the summit that brought together the 12 South American countries for the first time in almost ten years, the Uruguayan Luis Lacalle Pou said he was "surprised" by the fact that Lula defined as "narrative" what happens in Venezuela, and left a sharp phrase: "We are going to be judged by our actions, there we have to go. Let's not waste time, that life ends and although some believe not, so do governments."

Chilean Gabriel Boric is, at 37, the youngest president in South America. When he was born in 1986, Lula was the star of the second of his six presidential campaigns. "Judging by the experience of each one, it is the Brazilian who has to give lessons to the Chilean, but it was not what happened," said "O Globo". "It's not a narrative construction, it's a reality," said Boric, who part of the Workers' Party (PT) government considers a left-wing president surrendered to the right.

"I have had the opportunity to see (that reality) in the eyes and pain of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who today are in our homeland and who also demand a firm and clear position," added Boric, who earned the antipathy of the most left-wing sectors of the Brazilian government.

Beyond what is going on in the microclimate of the Planalto Palace, the general reaction in Brazil to Lula's comments about Venezuela was one of disbelief.

"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!"

That succession of phrases on Monday changed the axis of the Summit, to which Lula arrived with a maximum hypothesis – the resurrection of Unasur, the Union of South American Nations – and a lot of ambition.

"The European Union (EU) created the euro, why can't the BRICS create their currency?" asked the Brazilian, who spoke of the "enormous geopolitical change" he envisions when he raises his criticism of the functioning of the United Nations Security Council and its objective that this body be reformed and expanded.

It was, however, Venezuela the gravitational axis throughout the Summit, in which Guillermo Lasso, president of Ecuador, and Mario Abdo Benítez, president of Paraguay, also questioned Lula's theories about Venezuela. Alberto Fernández, president of Argentina, instead bowed to Lula and held a bilateral meeting with Maduro, the first in three and a half years of government.

During an extensive and at times electric press conference on Tuesday night, Lula elaborated on his theories about what is happening in Venezuela and what the international community should do. "The demands for democracy that are made to Venezuela are not made to Saudi Arabia, it is very strange!" said the Brazilian head of state before criticizing the EU.

"I have told the European Union. How is it possible that you, who are a democratic heritage of humanity, support an impostor in the Presidency like Juan Guaidó?"

"The one who is going to help Venezuela is Venezuela itself. They talk about democracy in Venezuela... It is not possible to say that there is no democracy in Venezuela. I joked with (Hugo) Chavez that for anything he would hold a referendum. And I said, uh, work a little bit."

Lula also stressed that he recently sent Celso Amorim, his former foreign minister and current adviser for international affairs, to Venezuela and that the veteran diplomat told him that he never saw a Venezuela as calm as the current one.

As for the future of Unasur, which will not be resurrected as an organization, Lula managed to commit his peers to present a document in 120 days with the steps to follow for South American integration. That 'road map' should be approved at an upcoming Summit, which will not be hosted by Brazil.

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