The South American presidents managed to agree on a declaration in which they promised to design a road map to supervise greater regional integration, at the end of a summit held on Tuesday in Brasilia. in which the Venezuelan Nicolás Maduro stole the attention and new notable discrepancies.
In the document, which was an expression of good intentions, the leaders recognized the importance of Maintain regular dialogue to drive collaboration and project the voice of the region in the world.
The meeting was convened and chaired by the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio “Lula” Da Silva, who resume leadership in the region after his return to power for the third time at the beginning of the year.
Also in attendance were the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Uruguay, Suriname and Venezuela. On behalf of Peru, he went to Alberto Otárola, president of the Council of Ministers.
The document was sealed after several hours of debate and after several presidents made public their questions against the Venezuelan populist leaderagainst whose government multiple complaints of human rights violations weigh.
Maduro did not want to go into that debate in depth and at the end of the meeting he told journalists that “a respectful, tolerant dialogue, united in diversity”.
The Uruguayan president, the right-wing Luis Lacalle Pou, had previously criticized the Venezuelan government in a message he posted on his Instagram account during the plenary session of heads of state. He held that in Venezuela there are many groups “trying to mediate so that there is full democracy, for human rights, so that there are no political prisoners”.
The message was released when the closed-door debate between the leaders was taking place at the Itamaraty Palace.
Lacalle Pou also questioned that the summit It was preceded the day before by a bilateral meeting between Brazil and Venezuela in which Lula was fully in favor of the Venezuelan leader, describing it as “absurd” that some governments do not recognize him as the president duly elected by his people.
The same critical position was expressed by the Chilean Gabriel Boric, who although he was glad that Venezuela returned to multilateral instances, stressed that this does not mean “turning a blind eye” to complaints of human rights violations.
In this regard, the Chilean leftist leader said that he expressed his discrepancy with what Lula stated after his meeting with Maduro about the questioning of the Venezuelan government “a narrative construction”.
“They are not a narrative construction; It is a serious reality and he was able to see it in the eyes and pain of hundreds of Venezuelans who are in our country who demand a firm position that human rights they must be respected always and everywhere, regardless of the political color of the current ruler,” Boric said.
Despite his criticism, the Chilean president stated that he rejects the sanctions imposed on Venezuela by the United States and the European Union and asked that they be lifted.
Pablo Ibáñez, a professor of geopolitics at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, said it was urgent that Lula will strengthen ties with Venezuelapartly due to the shared border and the need to deal with Venezuelan migrants and refugees.
But he may have gone too far in his embrace of the Maduro government, Ibáñez said.
The President of Argentina, the Peronist Alberto Fernándezalso held a meeting with Maduro within the framework of the regional meeting and asked him for Venezuela to return to international organizations and forums.
After the meeting, the Argentine government said that a road map must be agreed with the ruling party and the Venezuelan opposition. “Where the guarantees for the 2024 electoral process will be worked on.”
They also highlighted the need for the sanctions imposed on Venezuela to be lifted.
Discrepancies also surfaced at the summit regarding the suitability of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) as a forum for regional collaboration after its practical dissolution due to the ideological differences that persist between the countries of the subcontinent.
The final document does not mention said forum, which once had 12 members and today only houses seven: Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Suriname and Guyana.
Brazil and Argentina rejoined this year the bloc that both countries helped to establish in 2008 along with other nations then governed by leftist or center-left forces.
Lula’s predecessor, the right-wing Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022)had distanced itself from Unasur, the same as other conservative leaders who failed it uselessly and aimed at sheltering populism in Venezuela.
Lula stated in his opening speech at the summit that there should be no preconceived ideas about the institutional design that the South American countries could adopt and that what should prevail is a space “that allows us to discuss regularly and guide actions towards strengthening the integration”.
The leaders finally agreed to establish a “contact group”, headed by the foreign ministers of the twelve countries gathered, to evaluate “the experiences of the integration mechanisms” and the preparation of a road map “that will be received for consideration of the Heads of State”.
They agreed to meet again, at a date and place to be determined.
During the meeting in Brasilia, the Brazilian president tried to circumvent the different positions instead of your guests to iron out the rough edges after years of disagreements, many of them ideologically rooted.
He said the group should discuss creating a currency to challenge the hegemony of the US dollar, forge a common energy marketfight against climate change and collaborate in the defense and security of the region.
Lula highlighted the region’s potential. “GDP is expected of our countries will reach four trillion dollars (4,000 million dollars) this year. Together we are the fifth world economy. With a population of almost 450 million inhabitants, it constitutes an important consumer market”.
The definition of an agenda of objectives also came up against the different needs of the countries, some of which suffer political and economic crises. Left and center-left forces rule in most of the nations and the right is in power in others or appears as a political alternative.
This was revealed in May by the success of the right-wingers in Chile in the vote to elect those in charge of drafting a new Constitution. A similar shift to the right is possible in Argentina, where Fernández is not running for re-election in October against a backdrop of accelerating acceleration.