Despite the growing tension between the United States and Venezuela, and after Republican Donald Trump stated that Venezuelan airspace should be considered “totally closed”, the Brazilian government should only toughen its tone against the White House if there is any attack on Venezuelan territory.
HAS CNN Brasil, Interlocutors of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) claim that a more vehement stance should emerge — through all institutional channels — only if Trump moves from the threat to the effective use of force against the country or against the regime of Nicolás Maduro.
In the Lula government’s assessment, at the moment, Brazil needs to calibrate the tone of its statements so as not to lose its ability to act as a possible mediator between the United States and Venezuela, if both countries want.
Recently, the Brazilian president emphatically criticized
“The threat of the use of military force has once again become part of everyday life in Latin America and the Caribbean. Old rhetorical maneuvers are recycled to justify illegal interventions. We are a region of peace and we want to remain at peace. Democracies do not fight crime by violating international law”, he stated.
In the same speech, given at the Summit of Celac (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) and the European Union, he also made a criticism that can be interpreted as an indirect towards Nicolás Maduro, stating that “personal projects of attachment to power undermine democracy”.
Lula, however, did not comment on the threat of
Possible attack in Venezuela
Planalto sources who spoke with reservation to CNN Brazil They do not believe, so far, that the Pentagon will carry out a military operation with troops landing in Venezuela.
The reading is that the US must maintain the context of threat and growing tension to destabilize and internally fracture the top leadership of the Maduro regime and the country’s Armed Forces.
For the sources, any attacks, if they actually occur, must be punctual and “in a highly surgical manner”.
The assessment is that the Republican administration is testing the strategy of growing threats to assess the extent to which it can create fissures in support for Maduro.
Fear of criticizing Trump
The lack of regional bodies for a collective demonstration against Trump’s threats is another factor pointed out by Lula’s interlocutors regarding the lack of more emphatic statements.
This is due not only to the weakening of regional organizations, but also to the fear of countries that they will end up suffering retaliation from Trump in the event of public criticism.
The fear means that even governments critical of the US stance towards Venezuela end up intimidated and prefer not to speak out.
Venezuela airspace
The President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, stated, in turn, that Trump’s announcement was over and called for an immediate meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization.
“There is no authorization from the UN Security Council for military actions against our neighbor. The US Senate did not give authorization for armed intervention. The international order must be preserved and Latin America and the Caribbean must affirm this without fear”, he wrote on the social network X.
Petro also said that “no airline should accept illegal orders over any country’s airspace.”
Trump’s statement was made after the US Federal Aviation Administration issued a notification to air operators warning about potential dangers of overflights, landings and takeoffs in Venezuelan airspace due to the militarization of the region.
The warning led to In response, the Chavista regime gave companies a period of up to 48 hours to resume routes and, in response to their refusal, revoked the licenses of six of them to operate in the country.
