‘Democratic’ Lula wants to bring Venezuela into Mercosur ‘very quickly’

Lula again hinted that he would ask for Venezuela’s return to Mercosur.The Caracas government, forced into the bloc by leftist governments in the 2000s, has been suspended since 2016, when the bloc’s countries prevented the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro from assuming the interim presidency.

Now the Workers’ Party member is once again trying to negotiate Maduro’s return. press release On Tuesday, the 9th of this month, in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Lula congratulated the country and President Luis Arce on joining the bloc. But that is not the only support he expects in the short term.

“We also hope that we can welcome back Venezuela very quickly.”, The Labour Party member said. Normalization of Venezuelan political life means stability for all of South America. Therefore, we hope that the elections will go smoothly and that everyone will recognize the results.”

The Venezuelan dictator has made a mark. “elections” Your country on July 28th. The electoral process, in quotation marks, follows almost no democratic rules: The dictatorial government bodies ensured which candidates could compete (and which candidates were disqualified). And on the first day of the election campaign, there were already arrests of opposition supporters, as well as the confiscation of intact campaign vehicles against Maduro.

The Brazilian government has tried to reach an agreement whereby Maduro would recognize the election results in the event of defeat, which seems impossible. So much so that Lula no longer talks about the elections. “Cleaning”But, yes. “calm”.

Venezuela joined Mercosur by force during the wave of leftist governments in South America in the 2000s, and under pressure from Lula and then Argentine President Nestor Kirchner, Caracas’s entry into the bloc was greatly accelerated: in less than seven months, the country was already a member state. Associate member. Its entry would take years, in part because of resistance from the Brazilian and Paraguayan parliaments to allow it in.

Venezuela did not gain full powers as a member of the bloc until 2013, during the Dilma government. When it came to his turn to assume the presidency of the bloc, in 2016, the main governments within the bloc were already right-wing: Mauricio Macri, the Argentine president, proposed suspending Venezuela from the bloc, due to violations of democratic and human rights institutions in the bloc’s countries.

Read more: Mercosur statement does not condemn Maduro’s actions