The border between Brazil and Venezuela, in the state of Roraima, is calm, monitored and open, reported this Saturday (3) the Minister of Defense of Brazil, José Múcio. The government also said that there is no news of Brazilians injured by the United States (USA) bombings against Venezuela.
“The border is absolutely calm. We have had a contingent of men and equipment there for some time. We are waiting for things to happen. We are waiting for the interview with the President of the Republic of the United States, some things that will happen during the day”, said Múcio.
The Minister of Defense said that Brazil has 10,000 military personnel in the Amazon region, with 2,300 in Roraima. Múcio added that there is a lot of conflicting information and that the government is monitoring events.
The speech took place after an emergency meeting at Itamaraty, in Brasília, in which President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva participated via videoconference. A second emergency meeting was scheduled for 5pm, also at Itamaraty.
The interim ministers of Foreign Affairs, Maria Laura da Rocha, and the Civil House, Miriam Belchior, also participated in the first meeting, as well as the chief minister of the Secretariat of Social Communication, Sidônio Palmeira, and representatives of the Secretariat of Institutional Relations and the Ministry of Justice and Public Security.
Defense Minister José Múcio and interim ministers Maria Laura da Rocha and Miriam Belchior speak about the US invasion of Venezuela – Photo: Valter Campanato/Agência Brasil
Through a note, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE) said that President Lula reinforced the position released earlier in the sense of condemn the US attack against Venezuela and the capture of President Nicolas Maduro, and his wife Cilia Flores, by US military personnel.
Interim Minister Maria Laura da Rocha said that Brazil still has no information on President Maduro’s whereabouts, but confirmed that there are no reports of injured Brazilians.
“The Brazilian community is calm and there have been no incidents so far. The tourists there are able to leave normally. Total normality in relation to the Brazilian community”, said the interim minister.
Understand
The US invasion of Venezuela marks a new episode of direct interventions by Washington in Latin America. The last time the US invaded a Latin American country was in 1989, in Panama, when the US military kidnapped then-president Manuel Noriega, accusing him of drug trafficking.
Just as they did with Noriega, the US accuses, without presenting evidence, Maduro of leading an alleged Venezuelan De Los Soles cartel. Experts in international drug trafficking question the existence of this cartel.
The US government was offering a $50 million reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest.
For critics, the action is a geopolitical measure to distance Venezuela from US global adversaries, such as China and Russia, in addition to exerting greater control over the country’s oil, which owns the largest proven oil reserves on the planet.
