US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Brazilian President Lula da Silva will meet this Wednesday in Brasilia to discuss bilateral and global issues at a time when Brazil and Israel face a diplomatic crisis and neither side appears willing to give up. Blinken arrived in Brasilia late Tuesday amid tight security.
Blinken will ask for help from Lula, whom he sees as an interlocutor with an active voice in various parts of the world, especially Latin America, Africa and the Arab world, on labor and human rights issues, as well as in finding solutions to some of the major conflicts around the world, namely war between Russia and Ukraine. Lula has an excellent relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and could be another channel of negotiations that would lead to an end to the conflict in Eastern Europe.
Another issue that was already on the agenda, but which will require a different approach than originally planned, is the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Lula da Silva’s statements last Sunday in Addis Adeb, Ethiopia, infuriated the Israeli government and created a serious diplomatic crisis, to the point that the Tel Aviv government publicly reprimanded Brazilian Ambassador Frederico Meyer and Brazil called you for consultation.
The US has avoided direct criticism of Lula da Silva, but on Tuesday it said it “disagrees” with the Brazilian, who compared Israeli brutality against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to that of Hitler against Jews. Those statements, considered unnecessary and inadequate even in Brazil, deprived Lula of his status as an impartial mediator in the conflict, a status that Blinken had hoped for given the Brazilian’s proximity to the Arab world.
At the meeting this Wednesday, which precedes a summit of G20 foreign ministers, a group currently chaired by Brazil, Lula and Blinken will also discuss the internal situation in Venezuela and tensions between the country and its neighbor Guyana.
Lula was the chief guarantor of dictator Nicolas Maduro, whose friend and ally he had been for years, to allow international sanctions on Venezuela to be eased in exchange for guarantees from Caracas that he would hold truly free and democratic presidential elections this year. . However, in recent months the Venezuelan government has taken several actions against opponents, threatening the fragile agreement as well as pressing claims to parts of the neighboring country’s territory.
Author: Domingos Grilo Serrinha This correspondent in Brazil
Source: CM Jornal
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