Vladimir Putin telephoned the Brazilian Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva last Tuesday, the day he received the leaders participating in the BRICS summit to which the Brazilian could not travel due to a domestic accident last minute. They both talked for 20 minutes. As expected, the Russian was interested in the state of his colleague’s health, as detailed by the Brazilian Presidency. But Putin revealed this Thursday that they also talked about Venezuela, which The Brazilian veto has prevented joining to the club of countries that demands a less Eurocentric and more multipolar world. Brazil has explained that preventing Caracas from joining the BRICS is because President Nicolás Maduro abused Lula’s trust after the presidential elections in fail to keep the promise to present the minutes official results, as Celso Amorim, presidential advisor for international affairs, explained to O Globo.
President Nicolás Maduro, who traveled to Kazan on one of his rare trips outside Venezuela, had to personally experience the embarrassment that, in the presence of Putin and the Chinese Xi Jinping, an absent Lula left him out of the BRICS. Maduro expressed his fury this Thursday night in a note in which he described the Brazilian veto as “an action that constitutes an aggression against Venezuela and a hostile gesture” as well as “inexplicable and immoral.” The note, which points its accusing finger against Itamaraty, the foreign ministry, and not against President Lula, presents Brazil’s position as a continuation of the boycott of Caracas by far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.
Putin has referred to Lula and the Venezuelan situation in his appearance before the media at the end of the summit. “We know Brazil’s position, we do not agree, Venezuela is fighting for its survival,” said the Russian president. according to Folha de S.Paulo. “I know President Lula, a very decent and honest man. I’m sure he will address the situation from that point. “He asked me to talk to Maduro, I hope the situation is resolved.”
The Russian president, who along with China is Maduro’s main economic and diplomatic supporter, was in favor of welcoming Venezuela into the BRICS+ but Putin has revealed that this will only happen when there is consensus among the club’s members.
The BRICS+ is now a nine-member club and has now accepted 13 more countries as associates. It represents four times more population than the G7. Its members have less GDP than the club of the largest economies (26% of the world total compared to almost 43%) but it exceeds it if calculated with purchasing power parity (35% compared to almost 30%), according to IMF data.
Former Brazilian Foreign Minister Amorim has exposed the main reason for the veto of a country that, until before the presidential elections marked by strong suspicions of fraud, was considered a friend. “The problem with Venezuela (in the BRICS) does not have to do with democracy, but with an abuse of trust. The breach of trust was serious. “They told us something and it was not done,” he declared. President Lula sent Amorim to Caracas to follow the presidential elections on July 28 on the ground. The day after the elections, the Brazilian envoy went to the Miraflores palace to meet with Maduro and he, according to Or Globepromised to make public the minutes that were supposed to confirm his victory. Shortly after, the opposition published digitized copies of more than 80% of the recount minutes, which indicated an overwhelming victory for Edmundo González. For weeks, Brazil demanded the documentation from Maduro, along with Colombia, Mexico and the United States, but he has not presented it.
In Brazil, it is taken for granted that on January 10, Maduro will take office for a third term and that the bilateral relationship will be frozen. Brasilia rules out breaking diplomatic relations. It’s not his style. Far away is the summit of south american presidents that Lula organized in Brasilia in 2023, at the beginning of his mandate, in an attempt to break the international isolation of Maduro and Chavismo.
