247 - Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira said that the meeting between President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers' Party) and US President Donald Trump addressed regional issues, going beyond the discussion of tariffs imposed by the US government on Brazil. Lula offered to act as an intermediary between the US and Venezuela with a view to reducing tensions between the two countries.
"President Lula raised the issue and said that Latin America and South America, specifically where we are, is a region of peace and offered to be a contact, an interlocutor, as he has been in the past, with Venezuela, to seek solutions that are mutually acceptable and correct," said Vieira after the meeting ended.
Tension in the Caribbean
Tensions between the US and Venezuela have been rising in recent weeks. The US military has attacked at least ten vessels in the Caribbean Pacific region, killing at least 43 people, under the pretext of combating drug trafficking.
This weekend, the US confirmed the deployment of the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford—the world's largest—to South American waters, along with escorts of destroyers and fighter jets, in one of the country's boldest decisions regarding the Southern Hemisphere region since the Cold War. The naval deployment follows joint maneuvers with the Caribbean country of Trinidad and Tobago, located just a few kilometers off the Venezuelan coast, which has heightened tensions in the region.
Venezuelan reaction
In response, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro reiterated that the country is completely free of drug trafficking and highlighted the progress made since the expulsion of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
According to Maduro, the break with the US agency was a turning point in the fight against drug trafficking."Since we broke with the DEA, the world's largest drug cartel, Venezuela has been able to advance its strategy autonomously and sovereignly. And today, Venezuela is a country completely free of drug trafficking and all these other things," he stated.
Risk of humanitarian crisis
Relations between Brazil and Venezuela have remained frozen since August of last year, when Lula stopped speaking to Maduro following allegations of electoral fraud that were not recognized by observers such as the Carter Center.
However, Brazilian diplomats warn that any offensive against Maduro could trigger an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, marked by a mass exodus of refugees. For Brasília, this scenario would directly threaten regional stability and test the response capacity of neighboring countries.
