Washington, Brazil.- The Brazilian Defense Minister, General Fernando Azevedo e Silva, ruled out today the participation of his country in an intervention in Venezuela during a visit to Washington, the same scenario in which last week its president, Jair Bolsonaro, He left the door open to the military road.
“This is not a hypothesis we are considering, Brazil is seeking a peaceful and rapid solution to the crisis in Venezuela,” the minister told reporters after meeting with his counterpart Patrick Shanahan at the Pentagon.
On Monday, during his official trip to Washington, Bolsonaro gave an ambiguous response on the issue at the press conference following his meeting with US President Donald Trump.
“There are some issues that, if you talk about them, are no longer strategic (…) It’s a question of strategy, everything that we discuss here (in private) we will fulfill, but of some possibilities it is not spoken in public”, Bolsonaro indicated.
The Brazilian far-right president had been asked whether he would allow his territory to be used to launch a US military intervention in Venezuela, or whether it would involve Brazilian personnel in that operation.
Trump, on the other hand, said to speak “for both countries” when reiterating the position that the USA. He has been holding for months: “all options are on the table,” including the military.
In response to the statements of Trump and Bolsonaro, the government of Nicolás Maduro accused the two leaders of “making an apology for the war.”
“It is grotesque to see two heads of states with cardinal international responsibilities make apology for war without any distension, in flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations,” said the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry.
The position defended today by Azevedo e Silva is in line with the one expressed by the vice president of Brazil, Hamilton Mourao, who said in February that “the military option was never an option” for his Government.
Both the United States and Brazil have recognized the legitimate leader of Venezuela as opposition leader Juan Guaidó. (EFEUSA)
