Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva criticised what he referred to as the return of a colonial method towards creating nations throughout a summit in Colombia on Saturday (March 21, 2026), pointing to the disposal of ex-Venezuelan leaderc and the gasoline blockade of Cuba.
“It’s not potential for somebody to assume that they personal different nations,” Mr. Lula mentioned, in an obvious reference to U.S. coverage within the area, at a high-level discussion board with delegates from Africa and a summit of the Neighborhood of Latin American and Caribbean States. “What are they doing with Cuba now? What did they do with Venezuela? Is that democratic?”
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The left-wing president additionally criticized the conflict launched by the U.S. and Israel in opposition to Iran on Feb. 28 and drew a parallel with thec. “Iran has been invaded underneath the pretext that Iran was constructing a nuclear bomb. The place are Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons? The place are they? Who discovered them?”
Mr. Lula mentioned that every one nations current had already skilled being plundered for gold, silver, diamonds and minerals. He accused an unspecified “they” of looking for to personal creating nations’ important minerals and uncommon earth deposits.
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“After taking every part we had, now they wish to personal the important minerals and uncommon earths that we now have,” Mr. Lula mentioned. “They wish to colonize us once more.”
Washington’s historical past of intervention in Latin America goes again a good distance — to when President James Monroe claimed the hemisphere as a part of the U.S. sphere of affect greater than 200 years in the past.
Whereas large-scale, overt U.S. involvement within the area largely petered out after the Chilly Warfare, Mr. Trump has rekindled the legacy.
Since assuming workplace final yr, Mr. Trump launched boat strikes in opposition to alleged drug traffickers within the Caribbean, ordered a naval blockade on Venezuelan oil exports and bought concerned in electoral politics in Honduras and Argentina.
And in Brazil, Mr. Trump imposed a 50% tariff on Brazilian items final yr, citing a ‘witch hunt’ trial in opposition to the nation’s former president Jair Bolsonaro. The U.S. has additionally proven eager curiosity in Brazil’s uncommon earth deposits.
Then, on Jan. 3, U.S. forces captured Venezuelan strongman chief Nicolás Maduro, flying him to the U.S. to face drug and weapons costs.
Whereas such actions have thrilled right-wing leaders throughout the continent, they’ve raised fears amongst left-wing politicians who’ve voiced grave considerations over what they see as U.S. bullying.
“We can’t enable anybody to intervene and violate the territorial integrity of every nation,” Mr. Lula mentioned Saturday (March 21, 2026).
Mr. Lula, who has mentioned he’ll run for a fourth, nonconsecutive time period within the upcoming October elections, additionally criticised the United Nations’ incapability to cease a number of conflicts world wide.
“What we’re witnessing is the whole and absolute failure of the United Nations,” mentioned Mr. Lula, pointing to the conditions in Gaza, Ukraine and Iran and as soon as once more calling for reform of the physique’s Safety Council.
The Safety Council is remitted within the U.N. Constitution with guaranteeing worldwide peace and safety, however it has failed in main conflicts due to the veto energy of 5 everlasting members: america, Russia, China, Britain and France.
There have been a long time of efforts to reform the Safety Council to mirror the geopolitical realities of the world in 2026, not of the post-World Warfare II period 80 years in the past, when the United Nations was established. However they’ve all been unsuccessful.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has designated a “ precedence goal,” echoed Lula’s condemnation of the United Nations.
The physique “is appearing in impotence, and that isn’t what it was created for. It was created after World Warfare II exactly to forestall wars. And but, what we now have as we speak is conflict,” Mr. Petro mentioned.
However the world wants the United Nations to offer local weather options and curb international warming, Mr. Petro mentioned. “The extra critical humanity’s issues turn into, the less instruments we now have for collective motion. And that path leads solely to barbarism.”
Mr. Petro accused U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio of defending Western civilization and urged him to as an alternative pursue dialogue.
Comparatively few Presidents andPPrime Ministers from Latin America and the Caribbean attended the summit in Colombia, an indication of the continent’s deep divisions.
These current included the presidents of Brazil, Uruguay, Burundi and Colombia, in addition to the Prime Ministers of Guyana and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, together with deputy ministers, international ministers, and ambassadors.
Revealed – March 22, 2026 10:51 pm IST