South American presidents are gathering in Brasilia on Tuesday for their first summit in almost a decade at the invitation of Brazil’s leftist leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who aims to regain his country’s active role in regional affairs. “We won’t decide anything at tomorrow’s meeting, it is just about discussing possibilities,” Lula told a news conference on Monday with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, on his first visit to Brazil in eight years. Lula said the leaders did not have to recreate a new Unasur but could come up with a different sort of organization. Maduro is hoping the South American countries will unite in calling on the United States to lift its sanctions against Venezuela, which he and Lula assailed at their news conference. Unasur was set up during Lula’s previous presidency, along with the leftist leaders of Venezuela and Argentina at the time, Hugo Chavez and Cristina Kirchner.

Source: Bueno Aires Herald May 30, 2023 12:38 UTC