Venezuela Welcomes Reelection of Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff
The reelection of Dilma Rouseff in Brazil and the first round victory by leftist Tabare Vazquez in Uruguay’s presidential election have been welcomed in Venezuela.
Mérida, 27th October 2014 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – The reelection of Dilma Rouseff in Brazil and the first round victory by leftist Tabare Vazquez in Uruguay’s presidential election have been welcomed in Venezuela.
Rousseff ensured the continuance of Brazil’s Worker’s Party (PT) in power after seeing off a strong challenge by pro-business candidate Aecio Neves to win with 51.6% of the vote in Sunday’s second round presidential runoff.
The result means that Venezuela will continue to count on the region’s largest power as an ally. In an official statement, Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro congratulated Rousseff and said that her reelection demonstrated “commitment to the union of the South American, Latin American and Caribbean region”.
Maduro also offered “all of the support and commitment of the Bolivarian revolution to advance in the consolidation of a strategic alliance between Brazil and Venezuela”. The two countries have been close since former presidents Hugo Chavez (PSUV, Venezuela) and Lula da Silva (PT, Brazil) led the region’s “left turn” in the 2000s.
Referencing the recent re-election of left-wing Evo Morales as president of Bolivia, top Venezuelan minister Elias Jaua argued yesterday, “The victories of Evo and Dilma demolish the thesis of the end of the cycle of left wing governments in Latin America”.
The Venezuelan left also warmly noted the victory of Tabare Velazquez in the first round of Uruguay’s presidential election yesterday. The potential successor to outgoing president Jose Mujica achieved 47.8% of the vote ahead of conservative rival Luis Lacalle Pou on 31.1%. The two candidates will face a final runoff on 30 November.
