US Ambassador to Brazil Warns Lula about Venezuela Issues

US Ambassador to Brazil’s told President Lula to "carefully calibrate his opposition" to the US position on Venezuela and Cuba. The comments generated reactions and a protest in support of Venezuela

Caracas, Venezuela, Mar. 09 (Venezuelanalysis.com).- Last Sunday, United States Ambassador to Brazil Donna Hrinak, gave a strong caution to the Brazilian government with relation to the South American giant’s relationship with Venezuela and Cuba.

Brazilians demonstrate outside the Embassy of Venezuela in Brasilia, on Monday March 8, to show support for President Hugo Chavez, and to reject “US intervention” in Venezuela.
Photo: E.B.

During a conference at Florida International University last Sunday, Hrinak said that her government expects Brazilian President Lula da Silva to convince Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to adopt a “democratic solution” to the current political situation.

Hrinak was referring to the process of referenda currently underway in Venezuela to recall several lawmakers and President Chavez. After counting and validating 3.4 million signatures collected by opponents of Chavez, electoral authorities are requesting about a million of those listed in petitions with irregularities to confirm or deny their willingness to sign and their identity, in order to decide if the recall on Chavez should take place. Political opposition to Chavez and the commercial media, accuse the President of manipulating the process of recall.

Hrinak warned President Lula to “carefully calibrate his opposition” to certain political issues such as the current situations in Venezuela and Cuba, which are part of the main focus of the Bush administration in Latin America.

The Ambassador warned that if Basil pretended to be a regional leader, it should dedicate more time to that task. “It’s difficult to understand Brazil’s silence given the recent abuses of human rights in Cuba,” said Hrinak.

Hrinak said that the U.S. has avoided reacting to criticisms by the Brazilian government of some issues that are not fundamental for U.S. interests. However, she mentioned that her government would not adopt the same position with regard to Brazil’s approach to the current situation in Venezuela

Hrinak served as Ambassador to the U.S. in Venezuela during President Chavez’s first years in office, with whom she had several clashes

Negotiation rather than intervention

Marco Aurelio Garcia, President Lula’s International relations advisor, was outraged by the U.S. Ambassador’s comments. “I don’t think those kinds of comments are appropriate for an Ambassador to say. Brazil and the U.S. never had better relations, but it is obvious that we have different perceptions on several issues,” Garcia told Argentine newspaper La Nacion.

According to Garcia, “there are different positions with regard to the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas, the World Trade Organization, and in the case of Venezuela, we do have different methods; we tend more towards negotiation than to intervention.”
 
Garcia defended Brazil’s approach to the political situation in Venezuela by saying that “Brazil has good communication with both the government as well as with the opposition, and that is not the case in of the United States. Therefore we can help [Venezuela] a lot.”

Brazil is part of the so called Group of Friends of Venezuela, which was created to act as mediators in the Venezuelan political crisis.

Brazilians demonstrate in support of Venezuela

In reaction to Ambassador Hrinak’s comments, several Brazilian social groups, intellectuals and political leaders participated in a demonstration this Monday in front of the Venezuelan Embassy in Brasilia, to show their support for Venezuela’s “Bolivarian revolution”, and to repudiate “US intervention” in Venezuela and Brazil.

Brazilians demonstrate outside the Embassy of Venezuela in Brasilia, on Monday March 8, to show support for President Hugo Chavez, and to reject “US intervention” in Venezuela.
Photo: E.B.

An estimated 1600 people attended the demonstration. Among the groups and personalities who attended were the influential Landless Peasant Movement, the Rural Women’s Movement, the Federal District Journalists Union, state congressman Frei Sergio, officials form the Cuban Embassy in Brasilia, and Venezuela’s Ambassador to Brazil Eloisa Lagonell.