Why didn’t Nicolás Maduro go to Lula da Silva’s inauguration in Brazil?

Nicolás Maduro’s absence in Brasilia on Sunday, during the swearing-in of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula, was widely known despite the close friendship and solidarity between the two heads of state for more than 20 years and plans to resume bilateral relations.

Days earlier it had been announced that the new president’s transition team had succeeded in removing existing restrictions on the entry of Chavista leaders into Brazil, and the arrival of the president of Venezuela was expected.

But at the last minute it was announced that the delegation from that country would be led by the head of parliament, the pro-government Jorge Rodríguez.

Maduro’s foul has raised questions and doubts. As reported in Caracas, it was not by personal will that the Venezuelan president did not participate in the third presidential installation of his Brazilian friend. Is that a great insecurity surrounds it due to the sanctions imposed by the US government.

The decision of the previous president, Jair Bolsonaro, to lift the ban on Maduro from entering Brazil was not enough.

Maduro had to settle for sending a greeting to his new Brazilian counterpart via Twitter on Sunday.

Maduro praised the new government Lula e he opted for the resumption of diplomatic and economic relations after the break with Bolsonaro for recognizing the opposition Juan Guaidó and his interim government, eliminated on December 30th.

regional blocks

The regional political circumstances in which most Latin American countries are now center-left favor the formation of ideological blocs and alliances by the Maduro government, but not its personal status as an authorized ruler in both North America and Europe.

For almost three years Maduro is accused of allegedly being linked to drug cartelsas “the three suns”, so called by the Venezuelan military who protect the president.

His head has a $15 million reward offered by American justice, which bounty hunters have in their sights wherever he goes.

The DEA monitors him on their radar and follows him every step of the way. The Venezuelan presidential family is linked to drug trafficking. The two grandchildren of his wife, Cilia Flores, and Maduro’s stepchildren were sentenced to 18 years in prison for trafficking 800 kilos of cocaine in the United States four years ago. However, they were released two months ago on the pardon of President Joe Biden in exchange for allowing the Chevron oil company to re-enter Venezuela.

Relations with the United States

Relations with the US are also interrupted but Maduro is willing to rebuild the ties to the energy crisis stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“Venezuela is ready, fully prepared, to start a process of normalization of diplomatic, consular, political relations with this United States government and with governments that may come,” he said in an interview this Sunday.

Maduro also leads the chain of command of those sanctioned in allegations that the UN Special Commission has been investigating human rights violations, ill-treatment and torture of political prisoners in the country’s prisons, adding to the 17 clandestine torture houses

As if that weren’t enough, the Attorney General of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Karim Khan, has launched a direct investigation into the victims of human rights violations in Venezuelan territory. Maduro is the only president under investigation by the International Criminal Court in the region.

The president could not even attend the inauguration of the Colombian Gustavo Petro, his old friend since his guerrilla days. His seat among the invited presidential dignitaries looked empty in Bogotá, just as it did this Sunday in Brasilia.

Internally, with his bulletproof vest, Maduro is careful not to appear in open public demonstrations or on the street for fear of being attacked and booed. Where bulletproof safety is guaranteed he is in Cuba, where he often travels in secret.

Caracas, special

B. C