By Lisandra Paraguassu and Anthony Boadle
Divergent views on Venezuela surfaced during a South American leaders’ summit on Tuesday hosted by Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as part of his efforts to unite the region’s development and give it a stronger voice internationally.
Lula urged South America’s 12 countries to overcome ideological differences that have divided the region and join efforts toward more economic, cultural and social integration.
But their first continental gathering in almost a decade surfaced opposing views when the presidents of Chile, a leftist, and Uruguay, a conservative, criticized Lula’s embrace of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro as a democratically elected leader.
Lula, who is seeking to restore Brazil’s leadership role in foreign affairs, rejected the criticism. The United States, Western countries and other critics consider Venezuela’s government to be “authoritarian” and have imposed sanctions in an attempt to pressure the country to hold new elections.
“I have always defended the idea that every country is sovereign to decide their political regime and their internal affairs,” he said at a news conference after the meeting.
Lula met with Maduro on Monday on the Venezuelan president’s first visit to Brasil in eight years as the countries restored diplomatic relations amid the conference that brought together heads of states of various South American countries.
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