FOREIGN POLICY & DIPLOMACY

Maduro's trip to Argentina in doubt as he pulls out of Lula meeting

Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro pulls out of scheduled meeting with Lula in Buenos Aires, putting his planned trip to Buenos Aires for CELAC summit in doubt.

Handout photo released by the Venezuelan Presidency of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro speaking during a televised message at Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas on March 28, 2021. Foto: JHONN ZERPA / VENEZUELAN PRESIDENCY / AFP
23 January 2023

 

Venezuela's government has cancelled a meeting between President Nicolás Maduro and Brazil's new leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Buenos Aires, placing the Bolivarian leader's planned trip to Argentina in doubt.

The news, confirmed by the Brazilian government to multiple news outlets, comes with Lula already in Buenos Aires for the upcoming CELAC summit, which Maduro was also set to attend.

Brazil's Foreign Ministry had announced earlier on Monday that Lula and Maduro would meet that afternoon for a bilateral summit, but said that Caracas had requested a cancellation.

The development puts Maduro's trip in doubt. The Venezuelan leader's possible presence in Buenos Aires has sparked the ire of Argentina's main opposition coalition and members of the Venezuelan community who live in the country.

A protest against Maduro's potential arrival took place on Sunday night, with a host of similar rallies planned in the coming days.

Brazil's Foreign Ministry has been ordered by Lula to re-establish relations with Venezuela. Diplomatic relations between the countries were broken off in 2020 by former president Jair Bolsonaro.

 

 

– TIMES/NA

 

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