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The government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) is expected to appoint Brazil’s ambassador to Venezuela, Glivânia Maria de Oliveira, to represent the country at the inauguration of dictator Nicolás Maduro. The ceremony is scheduled for January 10th.
Relations between the regime and the Lula government reached their lowest level after the election/Photo: Reproduction
The choice of Glivânia, who has represented Brazil in Caracas since the beginning of 2024, maintains the line adopted by Brazilian diplomacy following the contested election that, according to electoral authorities controlled by Chavismo, gave Maduro a third term.
Relations between the regime and the Lula government reached their lowest level after the election, but the PT member kept the ambassador in Venezuela under the argument that it was necessary to have some channel of dialogue with Chavismo.
The level of representation at a presidential inauguration is a sign of the importance that Brazil attaches to relations with the other country. Lula, for example, attended Claudia Sheinbaum’s inauguration as President of Mexico, while his vice-president, Geraldo Alckmin, was scheduled for inaugurations in Guatemala and Iran.
Even in the case of the inauguration ceremony of ultra-liberal Argentine Javier Milei, Lula’s disaffected, the Brazilian representative was Chancellor Mauro Vieira – a choice that highlighted the importance of relations between Brazil and Argentina despite the ideological distance between the two leaders.
The July 2024 elections were marked by accusations of fraud made by the opposition, which declared itself victorious and released electoral records that would prove the triumph of diplomat Edmundo González.
Even in the face of pressure from the United States and countries in Europe and Latin America, including Brazil, Maduro did not release the minutes that would support the victory announced by electoral authorities.
The impasse triggered after the election also opened a diplomatic crisis between the Lula government and the Maduro regime.
The dictatorship began to criticize Lula, and with even more intensity the Itamaraty. The department was even accused of being linked to the American State Department, and Celso Amorim, Lula’s advisor who was in Caracas for the election, was called a “messenger of North American imperialism”.
On another front, Brazil assumed the diplomatic protection of the Argentine embassy in Caracas, where a group of opponents has been taking refuge for months. Chavismo even announced that it had withdrawn Brazilian custody, in a gesture interpreted as a threat to invade the building. In the end, no Venezuelan agents entered the building, and asylum seekers remain there.
The situation at the Argentine embassy weighed on González’s decision to leave Venezuela and seek refuge in Spain in September.
Although González has reiterated that he intends to return to Caracas to take office as the country’s legitimate president, there is no sign that the regime intends to promote a transition in power.
