Dilma and Maduro's Meeting Delayed by Lula

05/10/2013 - 08h27

With an agenda similar to the Head of State, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva yesterday (9) delayed for almost two hours all official engagements between President Dilma Rousseff and the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Evaristo Sá/AFP

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff shake hands at Planalto Palace in Brasilia.

After the inauguration of new Minister Guilherme Afif Domingos (Department of Small Business), President Rouseff went to have lunch at presidential palace with the former president. Then, Lula went to a meeting at the Venezuelan embassy with President Maduro while Rousseff waited for about 1 hour and 40 minutes until President Maduro would finish the meeting with his political godfather.

The Venezuelan and Brazilian politicians discussed above all diplomatic issues between Venezuela and other countries of the Southern Cone.

Maduro's political adviser on last April election, Lula is mainly concerned with the early government months of Hugo Chavez successor, facing strong opposition by his main opponent, Henrique Capriles.

In a statement issued by the Venezuelan government, Brazil's neighbors call Lula "President 'obrero' [from the working class] who always defended the democratic character of the Bolivarian revolution" and helped consolidate a "solid relationship" generating "numerous infrastructure works ".

Translated by SIMONE PALMA

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