Lula’s Brazil shuns Maduro after surprise arrival

Gathered in the Russian city of Kazan, the BRICS alliance this week approved the inclusion of a list of 13 states that will be invited to join the bloc as “partnering members,” meaning that they won’t have the power to vote, but will be part of summits and discussions. 

Interestingly, Venezuela is not on this list, despite the Caracas administration’s long-lasting attempts to get closer to the economic group — and the unannounced visit of the country’s increasingly authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro to the summit. 

And Brazil played a crucial role in keeping Venezuela out. 

Despite long-term ties with the Venezuelan government, the Lula administration moved against its northern neighbor in the latest sign of distancing after Mr. Maduro’s much contested election win on July 28.

Celso Amorim, Lula’s top foreign policy adviser, avoided giving any major political explanations behind Brazil’s veto of Venezuela, saying that the inclusion of new states “needs to be studied,” among other platitudes that did not directly criticize the political situation in Venezuela.

From a Latin American perspective, this week’s recent decision was good for Cuba and Bolivia, two of the new “partnering members” alongside Turkey, Indonesia, Algeria, Belarus, Malaysia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Vietnam, Nigeria, and Uganda. 

Meanwhile, the international isolation of Mr. Maduro persists — and now even his former friends seem to be giving him the cold shoulder.

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