During a summit in Colombia, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva criticized the move as a return to a colonialist approach to developing countries.
However, while Lula did not mention US President Donald Trump in his remarks, he did mention actions taken by the Trump administration, including the January 3 abduction of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and the fuel blockade in Cuba.
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“It is impossible to think that someone owns another country,” Lula said, apparently referring to U.S. policy.
“What are they doing to Cuba now? What are they doing to Venezuela? Is it democracy?”
Lula was speaking at Saturday’s Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) Summit, which hosted a high-level forum with delegations from Africa.
He told the delegation that his country had already experienced the plundering of gold, silver, diamonds and minerals.
“After taking everything we had, they now want to own the critical minerals and rare earths that we have,” Lula said, without specifying who “they” were. “They want to colonize us again.”
The left-wing Brazilian president also criticized the ongoing war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran.
He drew similarities between the conflict that began on February 28 and the US-led war in Iraq that began in 2003 under the pretext of eliminating “weapons of mass destruction.”
“Iran is being invaded on the pretext that it is building a nuclear bomb,” Lula said, before pivoting to the US operation in Iraq that led to the overthrow of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
“Where are Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons?” Lula asked. “Where is it? Who found it?”
History of intervention
Washington’s history of intervention in Latin America dates back more than 200 years, when then-President James Monroe claimed the hemisphere as part of the United States’ sphere of influence.
Large-scale, overt U.S. involvement in the region largely subsided after the end of the Cold War, but President Trump has reignited that legacy.
Since taking office last year, President Trump has launched boat attacks on suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean, ordered a naval blockade against Venezuelan oil exports, and also engaged in electoral politics in Honduras and Argentina.
Last year, President Trump imposed 50% tariffs on Brazilian goods, motivated by the court case against former President Jair Bolsonaro. The United States has also shown strong interest in rare earth deposits in Brazil.
Then, on January 3, the US military abducted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, imprisoned him, and flew him to New York on drug and weapons charges.
While such actions have excited right-wing leaders across the continent, they have also caused concern among left-wing politicians, who have expressed serious concerns about what they see as bullying by the United States.
“We cannot allow anyone to interfere and violate the territorial integrity of countries,” Lula said on Saturday.
dissatisfaction with the United Nations
Lula, who has announced his intention to run for a fourth non-consecutive term in Brazil’s general elections to be held in October, also criticized the UN’s inability to stop multiple conflicts around the world.
“What we are witnessing is a complete and absolute failure of the United Nations,” he said, pointing to the situation in Gaza, Ukraine and Iran.
He renewed his call for reform of the United Nations Security Council, whose mission is to ensure international peace and security. However, the veto power of the five permanent members of the Security Council – China, France, Russia, the UK and the US – has not stopped large-scale conflicts.
Efforts to reform the Security Council have been underway for decades. However, they all ended in failure.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who has been designated a “priority target” by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, echoed Lula’s condemnation of the United Nations.
“The body functions in a state of inertia, but that’s not what it was created for. It was created after World War II to prevent war, and yet what we have today is war,” Petro said at the summit.
But the world needs the United Nations to provide solutions to climate change and curb global warming, Petro said.
“The more serious humanity’s problems become, the fewer the means for collective action, and the path only leads to barbarism.”
Relatively few presidents and prime ministers from Latin America and the Caribbean attended the summit in Colombia, demonstrating the continent’s deep divisions.
Attendees included the presidents of Brazil, Uruguay, Burundi, and Colombia, and the prime ministers, deputy ministers, foreign ministers, and ambassadors of Guyana and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
