President Irfaan Ali found himself at the Itamaraty Palace in Brazil on Tuesday to attend a meeting of South American leaders at the instigation of President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva. Eleven presidents and one prime minister participated, all of whom were male, it might be noted. The only female president on the continent currently is Dina Boluarte of Peru, who cannot leave the country because she has been impeached, and had to send her prime minister in her place.
As it is, the governments of Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia and Colombia do not acknowledge her as the legitimate head of state, and continue to recognise her predecessor Pedro Castillo. That probably would not have prevented her attendance had it been possible, since none other than the controversial Nicolás Maduro was very much present. This was the first time in some years he has been able to put in an appearance at an international gathering beyond the boundaries of Venezuela.
President Lula of Brazil has always had a taste for foreign policy and after five months in office is already active in extending his country’s diplomatic reach. His aim is to reconstitute a body similar to Unasur, the South American organisation which the late Hugo Chávez of Venezuela was instrumental in establishing in 2008 with a view to integrating the continent. It had an ideological basis, since most of the presidents at the time were left wing. But as the pink tide receded newly elected right-wing leaders began to suspend their membership, and by 2018 Unasur had effectively fizzled out.
Nowadays the continent has a rather plural character, ideologically speaking, something which the President of Brazil is not unaware of. “We need to learn to coexist with that plurality because it means exercising democracy to its final consequences,” he was quoted as saying. He went on to observe: “In the region, we let ideologies divide us and stop our efforts for integration. We abandoned the channels of dialogue and the mechanisms of cooperation and, as a result, we all lost out. Either we get together to … defend our interests together, or we are puppets in the hands of the big economies.”
Where economic matters are concerned President Lula pointed out to representatives that South America as a whole was the fifth-largest economy in the world, and restated his commitment to creating alternatives to the dollar for trading purposes. It would be remembered that this was an approach to which the late President Chávez was also dedicated. The question of a common currency for BRICS nations too is likely to be raised at their meeting in August this year. Brazil is a member of that organization along with Russia, India, China and South Africa.
While the question of the currency was no doubt discussed at the South American encounter, the meeting was held behind closed doors, so exactly what transpired was not made public, except in the case of one specific area of disagreement. It would be interesting to know if they raised the matter of migration, for example. What can be inferred is that no unanimity was arrived at in relation to the direction the revivified Unasur or similar model should take, since it was agreed that a commission of foreign ministers would be set up which would provide a list of options within 120 days.
According to Reuters the joint statement issued at the end of the meeting said the continent was committed to democracy, human rights, sustainable development and social justice. However, the news agency added, respect for diversity and the principle of non-interference in each other’s internal affairs was also agreed. It might be remarked that the two commitments are not necessarily entirely consistent with each other.
The open divergence of opinion came in relation to Venezuela, more specifically what President Lula had to say about President Maduro’s government. It is true that some neighbours have re-established relations with Caracas, in one or two cases because Juan Guaidó is no longer considered an interim president, not because they have changed their views on the government there.
President Maduro arrived a day early in Brasilia and was warmly greeted by his Brazilian counterpart. The two immediately weighed in on the matter of the US sanctions against Venezuela and Mr Maduro expressed the hope that the regional summit would call for their removal. He was soon to be disappointed in that regard. He also said that his country wanted to be a member of BRICS, which President Lula expressed himself in favour of. The two countries do have some bilateral issues on their agenda quite separate from the regional meeting. In particular, it was reported, there was the matter of Venezuela’s large debt to Brazil’s National Development Bank.
It was what the Brazilian President had to say to the press about the neighbouring country’s democracy that really revealed the split in the regional gathering. He referred to the “very large” prejudice against it saying that the image of an “anti-democratic” Venezuela represented a “narrative” advanced by Western nations.
To suggest that the Caracas government was an example of a democracy was too much for some leaders. Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou was quoted as having told the meeting: “I was surprised when you say that what happened in Venezuela is a narrative. You already know what we think about Venezuela and about the Venezuelan government.” He went on to say that much of the world was “trying to mediate so that democracy is full in Venezuela, that they have human rights, that there are no political prisoners. The worst thing we can do is to block out the sun.”
In a reference to when the final principles in the declaration were being negotiated, he related that he said, “When we sign, we [all present] do not have the same definition … of what respect for institutions, human rights and democracy are.”
Chilean President Gabriel Boric told the media “It’s not a narrative construction. It is a reality, it is serious.” He adverted to the many Venezuelan refugees living in Chile “who also demand a firm and clear position regarding the fact that human rights must always be respected.” Inevitably President Maduro did not let it pass, saying that history would be the final judge and that unity among the South American states should be based on a new multipolar world.
Exactly what President Ali contributed to the larger debate has not emerged, neither whether this country is in favour of a new South American body or not. Certainly it would be inadvisable for any head of state and government here to enter the debate about Venezuela for obvious reasons, but one rather suspects that in any case in the view of Latin-speaking nations Guyana and Suriname do not count for much. We are a bit like the pimple on the South American nose, a geographical part of the continent which is culturally and linguistically distinct, as well as being too small to have any clout, no matter the size of this country’s oil finds. Venezuela, however anti-democratic it may be, is in an altogether different category.
One cannot imagine that President Ali sought out President Maduro for an exchange of views, or vice versa, so the former was probably quite relieved to return home. When the official ‘family photo’ as it is called, was taken, the Venezuelan head was put at extreme left of the picture, with Suriname’s President Chandrikapersad Santhoki and then President Ali next to him. Given Guyana’s difficulties with Venezuela to which the organisers seemed oblivious, it was perhaps not the most sensitive placement from a protocol point of view.
