The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Madurosaid this Saturday, upon his return to the nation after participating in the BRICS summit in Russia, that “no one will veto or silence” the country, after Brazil vetoed the entry of the Caribbean nation into the group of emerging economies.
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“There is no force in this land that silences the voice of rebellion and justice of Venezuela, neither today nor tomorrow nor ever, no one will veto or silence Venezuela and whoever tries will dry up (will be forgotten),” said the president, in a brief welcome ceremony broadcast by the state channel VTV, without mentioning Brazil or his counterpart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The president assured that Venezuela’s participation in the BRICS summit, held this week in Kazan, Russia, was “stellar, exemplary, beautiful.”
“It fully confirms that we are on the right side of history and we are at the forefront of the new world that has been born, the multipolar, multicentric, pluripolar world,” he added.
On Friday, Brazilian government sources told EFE that Maduro tried to put pressure “at the last minute” to get the Caribbean nation included in the list of countries associated with the BRICS, to which Brazil reacted by “emphatically” opposing it. .
Brazil refused to allow Venezuela to join the list of associated countries because, “at this time,” relations between both countries “are not friendly,” according to sources said.
At the end of the summit, the Maduro Government described Brazil’s veto as a “hostile gesture” and an “aggression” against the nation’s interests.
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In a statement, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry expressed that with this veto it is “reproducing the hatred, exclusion and intolerance promoted from Western power centers to prevent, for now, the entry of Bolívar’s homeland into this organization.”
Relations between Caracas and Brasilia have deteriorated following the Venezuelan presidential elections, in which Maduro was declared the winner by the National Electoral Council (CNE), in a decision questioned by the opposition.
Brazil has refused to recognize Maduro’s victory and has repeatedly asked that the Venezuelan authorities release the electoral records to demonstrate the victory of the Chavista leader over the opposition Edmundo González Urrutia.
