The shift in the position of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's government (PT) regarding Nicolás Maduro's regime, crystallized by the note from the Itamaraty criticizing the blocking of an opposition candidacy, was preceded by conversations with Chavistas in Venezuela.
Last week, representatives of Lula sought allies of the dictator and compared the situation of the opposition in the country with the candidacy for the Presidency of Lula himself in 2018, when he was imprisoned under the scope of Operation Car Wash. They said that, on that occasion, Lula was prevented from running by a decision of the Electoral Court. And they continued: even considering the decision mistaken, the current president indicated a substitute, Fernando Haddad (current Minister of Finance), who could participate in the electoral process.
The comparison was used by Lula's emissaries to tell the Chavistas that Corina Yoris, nominated as a substitute for opposition leader María Corina Machado, should be authorized to participate in this year's election. María Corina was disqualified by the regime from participating in the election.
In the same conversations, Lula's aides warned the dictatorship that the disqualification of Yoris, against whom there is no judicial decision, would result in a public opposition statement from the Brazilian government. According to people following the issue, the decision to express dissatisfaction with political repression in Venezuela was made by Lula during a meeting with Minister Mauro Vieira (Foreign Affairs) and the international advisor to the Presidency, Celso Amorim, on Monday (25).