Critical note from Brazil to Venezuela reflects discomfort with the election in the neighboring country and frustrated phone call | Policy

The note released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE) this Tuesday (26), which says that Brazil follows the electoral process in Venezuela with “expectation and concern”, was considered the final result of a long process, accompanied by a reflection by the Brazilian government on its foreign policy in relation to the neighboring country.

Diplomats and palace advisors interviewed by the report told details of the process discussed internally by Palácio do Planalto and Itamaraty until the Brazilian statement, considered tougher than previous positions.

Since President Lula took office, the government has sought to rebuild diplomatic bridges with Venezuela, which were broken during the Jair Bolsonaro government. The first stage was marked by the reopening of the Brazilian embassy in Caracas.

From then on, the country played a central role in negotiating clean and democratic elections in Venezuela in 2024, which resulted in the Barbados Agreement, signed at the end of last year, and mediated by Norway.

However, according to the assessment of members of the Itamaraty, since the agreement was signed, there have only been setbacks on the part of Venezuela.

Representative María Corina Machado was declared ineligible by the Maduro-controlled Supreme Court. People close to the opposition leader ended up being arrested, and employees of the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights were expelled from the country.

The warning signal for the Brazilian government was already lit. But Lula preferred to wait for the consolidation of the so-called “setback” with the deadline for registering candidacies.

Amid concern, the president made unpopular statements about the election. Still in 2023, he received Nicolás Maduro for a closed meeting, in Brasília. In a speech, he defended Maduro and said that the accusations that Venezuela is a dictatorship were part of a “narrative”. The declaration had bad repercussions within the meeting of presidents. Lula, on another occasion, also said in an interview that the concept of democracy was “relative”.

This Tuesday (26), with the denunciation of philosopher Corina Yoris, opponent of Nicolás Maduro, of not having been able to register to contest the presidential elections, and the end of the registration period, the government considered the situation in Venezuela an “endless path” return”, which “puts the electoral process under suspicion”.

The note sent this Tuesday, therefore, was considered by members of the Brazilian diplomatic corps as the “final result of a reflection by Brazil, which speaks with the authority of those who participated in the process of attempting a democratic transition”.

Venezuela, however, did not like the note. He said it appeared to have been written by the United States.

The note was reviewed by President Lula himself, in a meeting with Chancellor Mauro Vieira, this Monday (25). Before the statement was published and released, however, Brazil made one last attempt. Lula gave an order to the special advisor to the presidency of the Republic, Celso Amorim, to make contact with Caracas, communicating Brazil’s dissatisfaction and position regarding the impossibility of registering relevant opponents of Maduro in the electoral dispute.

But Planalto did not expect the contact attempt to be frustrated. Neither the Miraflores Palace, headquarters of the Venezuelan Presidency, nor the Venezuelan Electoral Court responded or even responded to Brazil’s calls. Frustration was decisive, therefore, in the final chapter of a season of attempts, wear and tear with public opinion and a red light for the so-called “democratic transition” in Venezuela. And at 1:27 pm the note was published on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.