Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva said Thursday he intends to arrange a meeting between Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez.
According to Brazilian newspaper Valor, the Brazilian Head of State made this promise at a breakfast organized by the Financial Times in London.
Lula, who so far maintained friendly relations with both Uribe and Chavez, criticized U.S. President Barack Obama on his Latin America policy, claiming Obama had forgotten about the region, despite earlier promises of improving ties with countries south of the U.S. border, the newspaper reported.
"I consider it of importance that the United States show more interest in Latin America so that we can devote ourselves to a momentum of peace and bonding within the continent," Valor quoted Lula.
The Brazilian President did not specify when he intended to hold the meeting to end verbal hostilities between the two neighboring countries north of Brazil.
Relations between Venezuela and Colombia are under great pressure over soaring violence in the countries' common border region and Colombia's renewed military cooperation with the U.S.
tomtom33
said:
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... I don't think that the US can win here. Either too much is done(Colombian bases) or not enough(Honduras). |
jim
said:
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... @tomtom33, The US definitely faces a serious image problem in the region but I think rather than characterizing Uncle Sam's missteps as a matter of degree (too much/too little), I would probably say the real issue is the kind of activity (i.e. heavy military focus) in which the US tends to engage that really makes things difficult. In terms of offering constructive diplomatic intervention, the US really has ignored the region and could stand to do a lot more. Good for Lula to keep beating that drum! Maybe its just his beard but there is something about that Brazilian I like... |
