Maduro’s police send a message to Lula on the networks: “Anyone who messes with Venezuela will be in trouble”
Amid the strain of diplomatic relations between Brazil and Venezuela, the Bolivarian National Police published, on its social networks, a provocative image of the president’s government Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).
The illustration features Lula’s silhouette, with his face blurred, and the Brazilian flag in the background, accompanied by the following words in the foreground: “Whoever messes with Venezuela gets hurt” (‘Let Venezuela get involved if it dries up’from the original in Spanish).
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In the post, which does not directly mention the Brazilian president, the Bolivarian National Police, controlled by the Nicolás Maduro regime, says that it “does not accept blackmail from anyone”.
“Our homeland is independent, free and sovereign. We do not accept blackmail from anyone, we are not anyone’s colony. We are destined to win”, says the Chavista institution in the publication made on Instagram.
Also read: As the crisis between Brazil and Venezuela escalates, Maduro summons ambassador
The message marks a moment of distance between the two countries, after years of friendly relations between Chavismo and the administrations of Lula and Dilma Rousseff (PT). The situation deteriorated after the last Venezuelan presidential election, in which Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner in a process full of allegations of fraud.
Faced with reactions from the international community, pressure on the Maduro regime increased. The Brazilian government also did not recognize the victory and demanded the minutes of the polls, which so far have not been presented by the authorities of the neighboring country.
Last week, Brazil vetoed Venezuela’s entry into the list of countries that would be invited to join the Brics as group partners. The outcome contradicted the positions of the leaders of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and China, Xi Jinping.
