Summit of South American Presidents in Brasilia gives Nicolás Maduro a diplomatic boost | international

The diplomatic rehabilitation of the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, culminated, at least at the regional level, which was received on Tuesday as equals by the heads of state of South America, at an informal summit meeting held in Brasilia by Luiz Inacio Lula. Da Silva. The purpose of the meeting was not, officially, to end Chavismo’s isolation but to promote integration in South America. Lula, who has half a century of politics behind him and is the dean of the heads of the Southern Cone, wants him and his counterparts to put aside their undeniable ideological differences, cooperate more and look for a mechanism to act as a bloc in facing global and local challenges. As planned, only the President of Peru, Dina Boulwart, was missing.

Lula opened the meeting with an admission of failure: “In the region, we let ideologies divide us and cut off integration efforts. We abandoned channels of dialogue and mechanisms of cooperation, and in doing so we all lost.” For this reason, he encouraged his colleagues to renew their “commitment to South American integration” before declaring that “no country can confront today’s systemic threats alone. Only by working together will we be able to overcome them.”

Maduro’s first meeting with the 10 other presidents and a representative of Peru took place behind closed doors. Perhaps it wasn’t as uncritical as the reception the host gave him on Monday. The bilateral meeting between the Brazilian and the Venezuelan was followed by a joint appearance in which the first did not mention human rights violations, although it included a message that the upcoming elections would be free. The president and leader of Brazil’s left has come under fire in his country – where he won elections on a pro-democracy project and part of his press calls Maduro a dictator – for defending charges of tyranny or lack of democracy. Part of the enemy story.

Only Colombian Gustavo Petro spoke to the press upon his arrival in Itamaraty. Latin America must have a united voice because it has great potential. said Pietro, who at last, in accordance with the fame before him, reached the glass-enclosed Itamaraty Palace, the seat of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From its windows one can peek into the heart of Brazilian democracy, which five months ago was violently attacked by thousands of bolsonaristas.

Before Petro (Colombia), they arrived one by one, Lula (Brazil), Alberto Fernandez (Argentina), Luis Arce (Bolivia), Gabriel Boric (Chile), Guillermo Laso (Ecuador), Irfan Ali (Guyana), Mario Abdu Benitez ( Paraguay), Cha Santokhi (Suriname), Luis Lacalle Po (Uruguay) and on behalf of Peru, its Prime Minister Luis Alberto Otarola, so that this meeting, diverse in ideology, is a meeting without even a female president.

Gone is the earlier period when Brazil, with far-right Jair Bolsonaro in the presidency, became an international pariah. Lola made no secret that he would like to revive Unasor, but he wanted to hear from his counterparts. And it’s not clear that everyone else is embracing this plan. Although it was born as an all-South American club in the midst of a wave of left-wing governments 15 years ago, the rightward shift taken by South American voters as of 2018 has frightened more than half. Among its members are the Prosor Conservative Club. It is about overcoming the stage of entities that have been turned into friend clubs of the left or the right to organize themselves along the lines of the African Union or the European Union.

The meeting has no agenda. The idea is an informal meeting in which frankness and trust prevail. That’s why leaders come with their advisor and one or two advisors. no footnote. Each participant will give a morning speech. After lunch, it is time for dialogue and exchange of ideas.

In Lula’s inaugural address, in Portuguese and the only one open to the press, he emphasized that “a strong South America, self-confident and politically organized, expands the possibilities” to effectively meet multiple challenges. Whether it be another pandemic, the climate crisis, inflation, or the impact of the Ukraine war on food prices or fertilizer supply.

The host stressed that together they would be the fifth largest economy in the world, and in this context he supported the work of regional development banks in a coordinated manner to finance projects and chose a monetary mechanism to reduce dependence on the dollar and yuan. (“Currency outside the region”). Among the proposals, even students exchanged Erasmus.

Although South America is one of the most unequal regions in the world, where poverty and violence are entrenched, Lula never misses an opportunity to remember: “We are a region of peace, without weapons of mass destruction, and where disputes are resolved by the diplomatic method.

Subscribe here To the EL PAÍS America newsletter and receive all the essential information on current affairs in the region.