Lula attributes to Boric’s youth his haste for the entire CELAC to recognize the Russian aggression against Ukraine

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Insists that in order for peace negotiations to begin, the war must first stop but not withdraw

BRUSSELS, 19 Jul. () –

The president of Brazil, Luiz Inazio Lula da Silva, has attributed to the youth and inexperience of his Chilean counterpart, Gabriel Boric, his “rush” for all the countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) to recognize the aggression by Russia against Ukraine.

During his speech this Tuesday in the plenary session of the EU-CELAC summit in Brussels, Boric made ugly that the refusal of “some” to recognize that the war is “against” Ukraine and not “in” Ukraine was delaying the conclusion of the joint declaration, which was finally closed without the support of Nicaragua. “Today it is Ukraine, but tomorrow it could be any of us,” he warned.

“Possibly the lack of habit of participating in these meetings makes a young person thirstier, more hasty,” Lula assessed at a press conference in Brussels this Wednesday at the end of his visit. Boric, 37, has been in charge of Chile since March 2022.

“I was already in a rush like Boric,” he added, recalling that during his first year in office in his first stage at the head of Paris he was invited to the G7 summit and he also wanted everything to be decided there and at that moment because He considered it important to his country.

“But it is not only about the interest of Brazil”, he added, stressing that 60 countries with their respective visions met at the EU and CELAC summit. “Therefore not everyone agrees with us and not everyone has the same rush or the same vision,” he defended.

Thus, he has denied that Ukraine was the main topic of discussion during the two days of the summit, which he has not hesitated to label as “extraordinary”. “It was the most important meeting in which I participated, the most mature, where the issues that should be discussed were discussed,” she asserted.

As for Ukraine, he maintained that “we all know what Europe thinks, we know what is happening between Ukraine and Russia and we know what Latin America thinks.” In his opinion, the agreed statement was “extremely reasonable.”

Specifically, the EU and CELAC, with the exception of Nicaragua, expressed their “deep concern about the ongoing war against Ukraine”, although without mentioning Russia at any time, and about the impact it is having in multiple areas at the national level. world, and supported “the need for a just and sustainable peace.

BRAZIL WANTS PEACE

The Brazilian president has once again defended that Brazil wants peace and that is why he is talking with other countries in the region but also with China or Indonesia, with a view to building a group of countries “capable of convincing Russia and Ukraine that peace It’s the best way.”

Lula has said that he understands the “nervousness” of the EU because they have a war on their borders and has defended that precisely the geographical remoteness of Brazil with respect to the conflict is something positive, since “we can have the peace of mind of not entering into the climate in the one where the Europeans are”.

For now, he has acknowledged, neither the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, nor the Ukrainian, Volodimir Zelenski, want “a draw” because they think they are going to win, but people are beginning to be “tired” of the war.

Thus, he has reaffirmed that “the sine qua non condition for discussing peace is that the war stops”, after being asked if he agrees with Zelenski that in order to start negotiating, there must first be a withdrawal of Russian troops.

Lula, who recalled that Brazil has condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine by supporting the resolutions of the UN General Assembly in this regard, has insisted that “the withdrawal is part of the peace agreement”. “After the war stops, we will have to sit at a table and discuss”, she has maintained. “That is what we want,” she assured, pointing out that it is not clear that Brazil will act as a mediator if necessary.