Diplomat Flávio Macieira landed in Venezuela this Wednesday (18) to carry out the duties of Brazil’s chargé d’affaires in the country.
This is the first time that the Brazilian government has had a diplomatic representative in Venezuela since 2020. On the occasion, then-president Jair Bolsonaro closed all diplomatic headquarters and broke off relations with the neighboring country.
Macieira’s objective on this first visit is to evaluate and coordinate the reopening of the Brazilian embassy and consulates in the country, since the buildings were abandoned by officials during the administration of former Chancellor Ernesto Araújo, under Bolsonaro’s guidance.
::What’s happening in Venezuela::
In Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, the diplomat was received by the vice-chancellor of Venezuela for Latin America, Rander Peña, with whom he held the first bilateral meeting.
“On behalf of President Nicolás Maduro and Chancellor Yvan Gil, we welcome Flávio Macieira, who will carry out the duties of Brazil’s chargé d’affaires in Venezuela. Our countries are moving steadily forward in the normalization of bilateral relations,” said Peña.
On behalf of Pdte. @NicolasMaduro and the Chancellor @yvangil, we welcomed Flávio Macieira, who will perform functions as Chargé d’Affaires of Brazil in Venezuela. Our countries are advancing steadily in the normalization of bilateral relations 🇧🇷🇻🇪. Bem-vindo! pic.twitter.com/N8kxKm9Bwr
—Rander Peña Ramírez (@RanderPena) January 18, 2023
Macieira is a career diplomat at Itamaraty and has been Brazil’s ambassador to Nicaragua, Norway and Panama. There is still no official date for the reopening of the headquarters and for the appointment of a Brazilian ambassador in the neighboring country, but the expectation of Venezuelan diplomacy is that the process will be quick and that relations will be normalized as soon as possible.
Caracas, in turn, has already appointed a new ambassador to Brazil. Diplomat Manuel Vadell, who had already served as the country’s consul in São Paulo, was chosen by President Nicolás Maduro in December last year, and now must be approved by the Venezuelan National Assembly to assume the diplomatic post in Brasília.
::Lula’s chancellor confirms resumption of relations with Venezuela and talks about “rebuilding bridges”::
Since winning the elections, Lula and his team have been announcing their intentions to resume relations with Venezuela. After the inauguration ceremony, the President of the Venezuelan Parliament, Jorge Rodríguez, who was in Brasília representing the country at the event, participated in a symbolic act of reopening the Venezuelan embassy alongside popular movements that barred the invasion of the diplomatic headquarters in 2019 .
The diplomatic actions of Caracas and Brasília and the end of the “interim government” of Juan Guaidó mark the end of Brazil’s hostile diplomatic policy towards Venezuela and the recognition of parallel opposition mandates adopted during the Bolsonaro government.
Editing: Thalita Pires
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
