Brazil officially endorses new Venezuelan ambassador

The Brazilian government confirmed its decision to grant agrément — a state-given agreement required in diplomatic affairs — to Manuel Vicente Vadell Aquino as the new Venezuelan ambassador to Brazil. 

Mr. Vadell Aquino served as head of Venezuela’s Consulate General in São Paulo in 2015 and was appointed by President Nicolás Maduro to his new position shortly after Lula’s election in October.  

The confirmation of the new position came after a meeting in Buenos Aires between Brazil’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mauro Vieira and his Venezuelan counterpart, Yvan Gil. A Brazilian delegation is currently in the Argentinian capital to attend the seventh meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). 

The resolution regarding the new ambassador is another step in the rapprochement between Brasília and Caracas after four years of animosity between the two countries. 

Relations between Brazil and Venezuela unraveled during the Jair Bolsonaro administration (2019-2022). Mr. Bolsonaro recognized self-declared interim president Juan Guaidó instead of Mr. Maduro and barred top officials of the Venezuelan government, including President Maduro, from entering the country. 

In addition to cutting ties, the last Brazilian administration persistently used the far-left neighboring regime as a political bogeyman.

Last week, the Brazilian Foreign Affairs Ministry sent a mission to Caracas in order to reopen Brazil’s diplomatic representation in its northern neighbor. Three offices have been shut down since March 2020. The move reflected “the Brazilian government’s decision to normalize bilateral relations,” the ministry said.

Lula is also in Buenos Aires for the CELAC meeting this week. Speaking from Argentina, he refrained from criticizing President Maduro’s authoritarianism. 

“We have to allow the self-determination of peoples to be respected. Just as I am against Russian territorial occupation in Ukraine, I am against interference in Venezuela,” he said. “What I want for Brazil, I also want for Venezuela: respect for the sovereignty and self-determination of my people,” defended the Brazilian president.

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