The Minister of People’s Power for Foreign Relations, Jorge Arreaza, condemned the «irresponsible» and «childish» attitude of his Brazilian counterpart, Ernesto Araújo, given his refusal to respond to a letter sent on August 7, in which, under instructions of the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, is reiterated the need to establish bilateral coordination mechanisms to face the COVID-19 pandemic in the border area shared by both countries.
In an interview with the Globo do Brasil television station, the Venezuelan Chancellor said that he was not surprised by the lack of response to the letter «due to the somewhat primitive characteristics of the Government of Brazil», as well as regretting that Itamaraty (Brazilian Chancellory), which has been a school for world diplomacy, it is in such a decadent situation by the authorities who run it circumstantially:
“We insist that it is time to put down attitudes, arrogance, differences. We must think of our peoples, we must comply with our Constitutions. International Law also obliges nations to cooperate, especially in emergency situations such as the pandemic», emphasized the minister.
He specified that the Bolivarian Government of Venezuela is ready to activate all possible cooperation on the binational border, where there are Venezuelans living in Brazilian territory and vice versa, through «sharing our scientific capabilities, our tests to diagnose COVID-19 , diplomatic consular protection, but if there is no dialogue it is really impossible”.
The Head of Venezuelan Diplomacy pointed out that although they do not agree with the policy of Jair Bolsonaro, they acknowledge him as the President of the neighboring country, and «it is with him and his Government that we have to work until the people of Brazil makes any other decision».
He also reiterated the provision of President Nicolás Maduro for Brazil to reactivate its consulates in Venezuela, so that they can serve its citizens residing in the Bolivarian nation, who currently do not have any consular protection, as refers a publication of the Ministry of People’s Power to Foreign Relations on its website.
“It is an obligation of any government to seek coordination with neighboring governments so that the peoples are safe and well-being. We will continue to seek dialogue with Brazil, Colombia and with any other Latin American neighbor», stressed Chancellor Arreaza.
In the letter sent to Chancellor Araújo, the Government of Venezuela states that the global health crisis generated by the pandemic «inexorably puts us on the obligation to seek ways of meeting for their containment, combat and definitive defeat», and that there are no spaces or excuses to delay the historical responsibility of establishing mechanisms of combined and coordinated action between the two countries. «We believe that now is the time to give diplomacy, dialogue and understanding a chance», he highlights.
