Elections in Venezuela: Lula and Macron, accomplices, raise their tone against Maduro

In all the photos, Lula da Silva and Emmanuel Macron appear arm in arm, hand in hand or with a big smile. They both showed up on Thursday their agreement on major international issuesthe theme of Macron’s last day of visit to the country after speaking about ecology, defense, economy and… Venezuela.

It was a visit that concluded with recognition of the broad partnership and “diplomatic intimacy” between the two countries.

Condemn Venezuela

Lula raised his tone for the first time towards Nicolás Maduro’s Venezuelan government, calling it “serious” the exclusion of the main candidate opponent in the presidential elections. “There is no legal or political explanation” why he could not do it, said the leftist, who said he was “surprised” by the news.

Macron, for his part, condemned “very firmly the exclusion of a serious and credible candidate” and urged to “restore” the possibility of participating in elections. Corina Yoris was unable to access the registration system which was blocked, according to the main opposition coalition, the Democratic United Platform (PUD), which managed to register another provisional candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia.

The foreign ministries of Brazil and Colombia expressed “concern” this week about the development of the Venezuelan electoral process. Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Lula They are seen as close to the Maduro government. Venezuela reacted calling them “interferers”. Lula said Brazil will try to “observe” these elections. “I want them to be celebrated like we do in Brazil: with everyone’s participation.”

Tuning also in networks

Macron and Lula showed great harmony during the visit post photographs of both smiling or holding hands which has even become the subject of memes, when compared to a couple in love.

The French president himself referred to the jokes, which went viral online. “Some have compared the images of my visit to those of a wedding, I tell them: It was like that! France loves Brazil and Brazil loves France!“he wrote in

The French president accompanied his publication with a screenshot of a photomontage that replaces the actors Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling on the poster of the romantic film Lalaland, with the two heads of state walking hand in hand.

This was the first visit by a French president to Brazil in 11 years.

Only one issue in contention: Mercosur

The agreement between the European Union and Mercosur was the only issue that did not bring them closer.

In a meeting with businessmen, Macron buried the agreement, calling it “terrible, terrible and obsolete” and saying that a new one needs to be signed, as it does not cover environmental issues.

The treaty “as negotiated today It’s a bad deal, for you and for us”, said Macron. “Let’s build a new agreement (…) that is responsible from the point of view of development, climate and biodiversity”, he defended.

The draft treaty, discussions of which began in 1999, aims to eliminate most customs duties between the two areas, creating a territory of over 700 million consumers. After reaching a political agreement in 2019, several countries, including France, blocked its adoption, an opposition accentuated by the agricultural crisis ravaging Europe.