Venezuela fumes over Brazil's rebuff at BRICS
- In Reports
- 10:55 AM, Oct 25, 2024
- Myind Staff
Venezuela has expressed criticism toward Brazil for blocking its entry into the BRICS group of emerging economies. The action was referred to as "immoral aggression" by Venezuela's foreign ministry during the group's conference in Russia, which was attended by over 20 heads of state.
The relationship between the two left-wing governments has deteriorated since Venezuela's disputed presidential election in July. President Nicolás Maduro claimed to have secured reelection despite data showing that Edmundo González from the opposition had won by a significant margin. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva initially supported Maduro, but later said he wouldn’t accept the official results until the voting breakdown was released.
Multiple foreign governments have said they believe the opposition won the election in Venezuela but stopped short of recognising González as the president. "The Brazilian foreign ministry has decided to maintain the veto that [former Brazilian president] Jair Bolsonaro has applied against Venezuela for years, reproducing the hatred, exclusion and intolerance promoted from the centres of power in the West," said a statement from the Venezuelan foreign ministry.
"The Venezuelan people feel indignation and shame at this inexplicable and immoral aggression," it added. Maduro even stated that his nation was "part of the Brics family" during his surprise attendance at the Kazan summit, demonstrating how strongly Venezuela had pushed to join the BRICS. The conference was hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who stated that while he supported Venezuela's stance, it would only be allowed to join the BRICS if all of its members agreed.
"We know Brazil's position. We don't agree, Venezuela is fighting for its survival," Putin said at a news conference on Thursday. He mentioned that he talked about the issue with Lula during a phone call earlier this week. Lula was supposed to attend the summit in Russia but cancelled his trip after hurting his head in a home accident on Saturday. Putin also promised to try to improve relations between the two neighbours in South America.
In the beginning, the BRICS was a coalition that included South Africa, China, India, Russia and Brazil. However, the founding members decided to accept several new members last year, including Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates. Lula fervently supports the BRICS as a way to improve global governance and give developing nations a stronger voice.
He has denounced the "paralysis" of international organisations and praised the BRICS' growth as a means of bolstering the struggle for a wider range of viewpoints. Other commentators, however, respond that the BRICS are themselves crippled by their own internal conflicts, with China and India engaged in their own domestic disputes and Russia at war in Ukraine.
The most recent BRICS conference in Kazan was perceived as a chance for President Putin to show that efforts to isolate Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine had not succeeded. However, he has also revealed other cracks in his efforts to fortify the grouping as a counterweight to the Western-led world, bringing relations between Caracas and Brasília to their lowest point since Lula's reelection two years ago.
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