Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ernesto Araujo on Friday plunged immediately into the divisive question of Venezuela, urging his counterparts from BRICS nations Russia, China, India and South Africa to hear Venezuelans’ “cry for freedom.”
“Brazil has heard that cry. I appeal to you all to listen to it too,” Araujo said at the opening session, reiterating his government’s support for Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido over President Nicolas Maduro.
Few issues divide the informal trade group as deeply as how to deal with Venezuela, whose socialist government is strongly backed by Russia and China, but a mass migration caused by the nation’s economic and political crisis has led to an influx of tens of thousands in Brazil.
Araujo denounced “a regime sustained by force” that he said has led to extreme poverty, hunger and “the exodus of 4 million Venezuelans.”
However, he agreed with Russia on one key point: opposition to foreign intervention.
“We agree that the solution must be constructed by Venezuelans,” Araujo told reporters later.
The focus on Venezuela led to a discordant start for the meeting of emerging economies — in contrast to past gatherings held under former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, which drew other leftist governments together against Washington.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who took office in January, has compared himself to US President Donald Trump, complained about Russia’s support of Maduro and suggested allowing a US military presence in Brazil.
Before entering the Cabinet, Araujo had been deeply skeptical of China, suggesting on his blog that its extensive investments in Brazil were a threat to national sovereignty.
He also wrote that climate change was a plot piloted by “cultural Marxism” to promote China’s growth.
Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov responded to Araujo’s plea by saying that the approach to Venezuela should be based on “international law and give support to Venezuelans without external interference, and always with [respect to] the constitution.”
Oliver Stuenkel, an associate professor of international relations at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, said that he did not expect much to come of either entrenched position.
“Despite Brazil caring a lot about this topic, I think it is very unlikely to see anything substantive vis-a-vis Venezuela coming out of this summit,” he said.
The meeting is supposed to lay the groundwork for a November summit of the five nations’ leaders that would focus on forging agreements on trade and technology, and fighting terrorism and international crime.
Separately, Araujo confirmed that Bolsonaro’s administration has officially nominated Eduardo Bolsonaro, the president’s son, to be Brazil’s ambassador to the US.
The proposal would have to be cleared by Washington and approved by the Brazilian Senate.
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
Asian perspectives of the US have shifted from a country once perceived as a force of “moral legitimacy” to something akin to “a landlord seeking rent,” Singaporean Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen (黃永宏) said on the sidelines of an international security meeting. Ng said in a round-table discussion at the Munich Security Conference in Germany that assumptions undertaken in the years after the end of World War II have fundamentally changed. One example is that from the time of former US president John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address more than 60 years ago, the image of the US was of a country
BLIND COST CUTTING: A DOGE push to lay off 2,000 energy department workers resulted in hundreds of staff at a nuclear security agency being fired — then ‘unfired’ US President Donald Trump’s administration has halted the firings of hundreds of federal employees who were tasked with working on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs, in an about-face that has left workers confused and experts cautioning that the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) blind cost cutting would put communities at risk. Three US officials who spoke to The Associated Press said up to 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) were abruptly laid off late on Thursday, with some losing access to e-mail before they’d learned they were fired, only to try to enter their offices on Friday morning
CONFIDENT ON DEAL: ‘Ukraine wants a seat at the table, but wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have a say? It’s been a long time since an election, the US president said US President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and added that he was more confident of a deal to end the war after US-Russia talks. Trump increased pressure on Zelenskiy to hold elections and chided him for complaining about being frozen out of talks in Saudi Arabia. The US president also suggested that he could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of the month as Washington overhauls its stance toward Russia. “I’m very disappointed, I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when asked about the Ukrainian
RSS