Getty ImagesVenezuela has criticized Brazil’s decision to veto joining the Brics group of emerging economies.
Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry described the move, which took place at the group’s summit in Russia attended by more than 20 heads of state, as an “immoral aggression”.
Relations between the two leftist governments have soured since July’s disputed presidential election in Venezuela. President Nicolás Maduro said he was guaranteed re-election, despite evidence that the opposition’s Edmundo González won a landslide victory.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva initially supported Maduro, but ultimately said he would not accept the official results until a breakdown of the vote was released.
Many foreign governments said they believed the opposition won Venezuela’s election, but did not recognize González as president.
“The Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided to maintain that veto [former Brazilian president] Jair Bolsonaro has filed against Venezuela for years, reproducing the hatred, exclusion and intolerance promoted from the centers of power in the West,” the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“The Venezuelan people are outraged and ashamed by this immoral and inexplicable aggression,” the statement added.
Venezuela has lobbied hard to join the Brics, with Maduro even making a surprise appearance at the summit in Kazan and declaring that his country is “part of the Brics family”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who chaired the summit, said he agreed with Venezuela’s position, but added that the country would only be able to join Brics if there was consensus support among members.
“We know Brazil’s position. We do not agree, Venezuela is fighting for its survival,” Putin said at a press conference on Thursday.
He said he discussed the issue with Lula when they spoke by phone this week. Lula had planned to go to Russia for the summit but later canceled the trip. suffered head injuries in an accident at home on Saturday.
Putin added that he would work to help the two South American neighbors mend relations.
Brics was originally a group uniting Brazil with Russia, India, China and South Africa. Last year, however, the original members agreed to admit several new members, including Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
Lula is a passionate advocate of Brics as a means of reforming global governance and giving a greater voice to the developing world.
He criticized the “paralysis” of global institutions, and praised Brics’ expansion as strengthening the fight for more diverse views.
But other observers counter that the Brics themselves are paralyzed by their own internal conflicts, with Russia at war in Ukraine, while China and India also have mutual disputes. each other.
The latest Brics summit in Kazan is seen as an opportunity for President Putin to demonstrate that efforts to isolate Russia after its invasion of Ukraine have failed.
But in his efforts to strengthen the group as a counterweight to the Western-led world, he has also exposed other divisions, leaving relations between Brasília and Caracas at their lowest point since Lula’s re-election. two years ago.
