By MATTHEW MENDES*
Brazil's veto on Venezuela comes from a mistaken conviction, based on a minimalist conception of democracy and a mistaken reading of the international situation
Although it is recognized that the limitations imposed on Lula today are much greater than in his first terms, Brazil's stance on Venezuela leaves the impression that many of the mistakes are due to conviction. In other words, there is certainly no room for maneuver to propose lifting Venezuela's suspension from Mercosur. From there to vetoing its entry into BRICS is a long way off.
The conditions
Foreign policy is a public policy and, like all public policy in a capitalist state, it is influenced by the result of the dispute between the fractions of the domestic bourgeoisie.
In dependent countries, such as Brazil, the bourgeoisie has three fractions, distinguished by the degree of autonomy in their accumulation base. While the comprador bourgeoisie does not have its own accumulation base, the national bourgeoisie is the fraction that has its own accumulation base. Between the two, there is the internal bourgeoisie, which has its own accumulation base, but is heavily dependent on international capital.
This difference in relation to international-imperialist capital will result in different relations with imperialism. While the comprador fraction has close ties with imperialism, the national, more indigenous, tends to defend greater autonomy. The internal bourgeoisie, on the other hand, oscillates, supporting the submission or autonomy of the country depending on a series of factors.
With the 2016 coup, the balance clearly tipped in favor of pro-imperialism. It would be illusory to conclude that Lula's victory in 2022 changed this situation. Therefore, the analysis of Brazilian foreign policy must be made recognizing these same conditions. Recognizing these limits, however, does not dispel the feeling that Brazilian foreign policy is being more realistic than the king when it comes to our relationship with Venezuela.
Brazilian foreign policy and Venezuela
In April 2002, when the coup took place that removed Hugo Chávez from the Miraflores Palace for 47 hours, anyone who spoke of a left-wing movement in the region would have been considered crazy or paranoid. This did not prevent the region, under the leadership of FHC, from deciding not to recognize the coup government.
When there were left-wing governments in Caracas and Brasília, the two countries had excellent relations. A good example of this was the choice of the baptismal name for the Abreu e Lima Refinery (PE), when Lula agreed, at the request of Hugo Chávez, to pay homage to the general from Recife who had fought alongside Bolívar. Another example was the Brazilian government's willingness to bring Venezuela into Mercosur, a fact that only came to fruition following Paraguay's suspension.
In 2012, aligned with this hydrophobic right, the parliament of the neighboring Platine was the only obstacle to the entry of the Amazon-Caribbean neighbor. The coup against Lugo justified the suspension of the country, which eliminated the obstacles to the entry of Venezuela, which was immediately suspended. It is worth noting that this response occurred in Brasilia.
Despite ideological affinities, Venezuela's entry into Mercosur was strategic for political and economic reasons. It meant integrating a market from Patagonia to the Caribbean. Venezuela's inclusion pleased Brazilian industrialists, who saw a preferential market opening in their neighbor, trapped in the oil rentier trap.
Nevertheless, the reactionary and authoritarian tide that promoted the (neo)coup in Paraguay did not take long to reach Brazil. At the time, President Dilma Rousseff was able to count on the support of Nicolás Maduro. Long before that, Venezuela had already been one of the favorite topics of the coup mob, which was led – oh, how ironic – by the PSDB.
When the coup was completed, an offensive against Venezuela began. In March 2017, when Michel Temer appointed him as chancellor, Senator Aloysio Nunes Ferreira (PSDB-SP) said that he “could not help but remember the concern (…) with the authoritarian escalation of the Venezuelan government.” On August 5, in São Paulo, Venezuela was suspended from Mercosur. Three days later, Brasília participated in the creation of the Lima Group, a concerted effort whose explicit objective was to isolate Caracas.
However, in this regard, the most unfortunate page in our history would come in 2019. Under Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil participated in what USAID itself recognizes as an attempted coup disguised as humanitarian aid. After the fiasco failed, months later Brazil recognized the self-proclaimed president Juan Guaidó.
From then on, what we saw was that Nicolás Maduro did not hesitate to denounce the coup process that was unfolding here. He called things by their proper names: the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff a “coup”; the imprisonment of Lula a “political prison” and “shameful villainy”.
Therefore, even considering the limitations to which Lula III's Brazilian foreign policy is subject, the Brazilian stance deserves criticism. Not promptly recognizing Maduro's victory was a huge mistake. The least that was expected was solidarity, at least given the fact that the opposition there is as much or more pro-coup than the ones here.
The main opposition candidate was Edmundo González Urrutia. Praised as a moderate by the international media and sectors of the Brazilian government, when the young González was number 2 at the Venezuelan embassy in El Salvador he collaborated with the Salvadoran death squads as part of Operation Condor.
Even so, in the 2024 election, González was a frontman for María Corina Machado. A participant in the 2002 coup, Machado became known for defending ultra-liberal policies, à la Javier Milei, and for leading a notoriously violent political group that in 2017 lynched, stabbed and burned Orlando Figuera (22) alive at a protest in Caracas simply because the young man was a Chavista. Machado, like the entire Venezuelan right, supported the coup attempt in 2019.
Therefore, it is not possible to demand the arrest of Jair Bolsonaro and the January 8 coup plotters and find it reasonable to normalize Machado, González and their entourage.
Furthermore, Article 4 of our Constitution states that our international relations are governed by the principles of self-determination of peoples and non-intervention. Additionally, from a philosophical point of view, the basis of the challenge is based on a minimalist view of democracy, the same one that considers the 2016 coup a minor setback. Last but not least, such a gesture completely ignored the geopolitical context.
In this sense, Brazil's veto on Venezuela's entry into the BRICS is a symptom of a mistaken conception of foreign policy and reading of the current situation.
BRICS and geopolitics
The BRICS are a group of emerging and developing countries based on three pillars: cooperation in politics and security; financial and economic cooperation; and cultural and people-to-people cooperation. Their main objective is to change the global governance system, especially with regard to institutions of Bretton Woods (IMF and World Bank) and the dollarization of the international economy.
This is the defense of a multipolar order, therefore, of a geopolitical articulation. More than that: a geopolitical articulation that brings together powers that economically and militarily challenge the US and the West. In this sense, the attempt by some to deny the BRICS' opposition to the West should be interpreted as discretion or diversionism.
Since the first meeting in 2009, the group has incorporated South Africa, becoming BRICS; created the New Development Bank (NDB), a development bank whose resources are available not only to its members, but to emerging countries in general, and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA), a fund designed to guarantee liquidity to member countries in the event of an ongoing or imminent financial or exchange rate crisis; included Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Iran as new members; and created a new category, that of “associate member”, which includes Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Nigeria, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. And here lies Brazil’s mistake: Venezuela should have been included but was not, by Brazilian decision.
Venezuela’s entry into the BRICS would be mutually beneficial. Our neighbors could see the restrictions illegally imposed by the West eased. In addition to adding the world’s largest oil reserves to their portfolio, the BRICS would make it clear that it is not up to the US to say who should be included or excluded from the international system.
The discomfort and uneasiness increase when it is realized that Brazil did not need to do anything, it just had to let the flow go on. Since this was not a Brazilian initiative, the political burden would be low. Not even the crazy assumption that Lula is a US infiltrator makes sense, after all, Iran joined last year and Cuba this year.
Furthermore, the claims that the decision was a response to the rude comments coming from Caracas are also unfounded. As bad as they were, they were all in response to Brazil’s misguided stance of meddling in the Venezuelan electoral process. And, again, there is no indication that the Brazilian government was forced to act in this way.
Since the veto is not justified by any constraint, the conviction remains. A mistaken conviction, based on a minimalist conception of democracy and a misreading of the international situation. The false controversy over the quality of Venezuela's democracy is something between a screen and a battering ram in the siege that aims to replace Maduro with a puppet who will open up its oil reserves, decimate Chavismo and keep China and Russia out of the hemisphere. Brazil definitely did not need to contribute to this.
*Matthew Mendes is a PhD candidate in international political economy at UFRJ. Author, among other books by Hybrid war and neo-coup: geopolitics and class struggle in Brazil (2013-2018) (popular expression).
the earth is round there is thanks to our readers and supporters.
Help us keep this idea going.
CONTRIBUTE
