International
‘Brazil is back,’ Lula hails at Latin America leaders summit
January 25 | By AFP | Philippe Bernes-Lasserre / Mauricio Rabuffetti |
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva declared Tuesday that his country is “back in the region” after joining more than a dozen other Latin American leaders at a summit in Buenos Aires.
Less than a month after his inauguration, Lula arrived in the Argentine capital looking to rebuild bridges after his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro had pulled out of the grouping.
“Brazil is back in the region and ready to work side-by-side with you with a very strong feeling of solidarity and closeness,” said the 77-year-old leader during the seventh Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) summit, which brings together 33 nations.
Lula, who previously served as Brazil’s president from 2003-10, was one of the founders of CELAC during the first “pink wave” of leftward political shifts on the continent over a decade ago.
But Bolsonaro pulled Brazil out of the group over what he perceived as its support for undemocratic governments in Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba.
Lula spoke Tuesday about the “multiple crises” affecting the world — from the pandemic to climate change, geopolitical tensions, food insecurities and threats to democracy.
“All this happens in the midst of an unacceptable rise in inequality, poverty and hunger,” said Lula, the only leader to publicize his speech at the summit.
Democracy and its threats — especially from the far right — were a central theme of the summit.
“We cannot allow the recalcitrant and fascist far right to put our institutions and our people in peril,” said the host of the forum, Argentina’s center-left President Alberto Fernandez, in opening remarks.
He pointed to the riots by Bolsonaro supporters at the seats of power in Brasilia earlier this month and the alleged attempt to assassinate his vice president, Cristina Kirchner, in September.
But Fernandez made no mention of communist Cuba or the accusations of political oppression made against radical leftist regimes in Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia.
In fact, with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel in attendance, Fernandez called for an end to the US-led blockade of Cuba and Venezuela.
They are “a perverse method of punishment, not of the governments but of the people,” Fernandez said.
‘Latin America is bankrupt’
Host Argentina this week hailed a “new climate in Latin America,” with the region ushering in a fresh wave of left or center-left governments since 2018 — including Mexico, Argentina, Honduras, Chile, Colombia and Brazil.
A forum for consultation and cooperation, CELAC has no power to enforce any agreements between its members.
And while Fernandez stressed the need to “strengthen the institutions in our region,” CELAC is struggling to unite members over successive regional crises, such as in Peru.
“Latin America is bankrupt from the institutional point of view,” Ignacio Bartesaghi, an international relations expert at the Catholic University of Uruguay, told AFP.
“There is not even certain basic consensus in Latin America, as on the difference between a democracy and a dictatorship,” he stressed.
“There are (at CELAC) presidents who do not even recognize each other,” he noted, alluding to situations such as Paraguay’s Mario Abdo Benitez, whose country broke diplomatic relations with Nicolas Maduro’s Venezuela in 2019.
‘Absence of dialogue’
Maduro called off his own trip to the gathering at the last minute, citing “a risk of aggression” from “the neo-fascist right,” a possible reference to some Argentine opposition politicians calling for him to be arrested on arrival.
He was due on Monday to meet with Lula, who instead held talks with Diaz-Canel.
He sent a message to the forum blasting the “criminal sanctions” against his government, in particular against the state oil company PDVSA.
Other significant absentees in Buenos Aires include Mexico’s left-wing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, leader of the second largest economy in Latin America and host in 2021 of the last CELAC summit.
CELAC however remains the partner of choice for China and the European Union to negotiate when cooperating with the region.
But the last joint-EU summit was in 2015, highlighting the lack of regional consensus, says Bernabe Malacalza, researcher at the CONICET Argentine national research center.
In this sense, the return of Lula could give a boost to certain sub-regional issues, such as the free-trade agreement between the EU and the Mercosur group which comprises Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
The deal was finalized in 2019 but never ratified, due in particular to concerns about Bolsonaro’s environmental policy.
Lula has indicated a willingness to resume contacts.
Meanwhile, Uruguayan president Luis Lacalle Pou proposed a free-trade zone extending from “Mexico to the south of South America.”
International
Report: Vatican mediation included russian asylum offer ahead of Maduro’s capture
The Vatican reportedly attempted to negotiate an offer of asylum in Russia for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro before his capture by U.S. forces last Saturday, according to The Washington Post.
The U.S. newspaper reported that Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin spoke with U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch about a supposed Russian proposal to grant Maduro asylum. A source familiar with the offer said that what was proposed “was that he would leave and be able to enjoy his money,” and that part of the plan involved Russian President Vladimir Putin guaranteeing Maduro’s security.
Despite these diplomatic efforts, the United States carried out a military operation that resulted in Maduro’s capture and detention, along with his wife Cilia Flores, who are now being held in New York on narcoterrorism charges.
The Washington Post also noted that U.S. President Donald Trump may have invited Maduro to Washington for in-person discussions about safe conduct, an offer that Maduro reportedly declined.
International
Pope Leo XIV warns of rising “war enthusiasm” in global politics
“War is becoming fashionable again, and war enthusiasm is spreading.” Pope Leo XIV delivered a somber assessment of international politics on Friday, sharply criticizing the growing reliance on force by nations at a time when his country of birth is increasing military displays.
While offering New Year’s greetings to the diplomatic corps, the U.S.-born pope — who also holds Peruvian nationality — delivered one of his strongest speeches to date, denouncing the “worrying weakening of multilateralism” and the emergence of what he described as “war enthusiasm.”
From the outset of his address to ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, delivered in English, the pontiff lamented the rise of a “diplomacy of force, by individuals or groups of allied states,” at the expense of dialogue, warning that such trends threaten the global order established after World War II.
“Peace is no longer sought as a gift or as a good desirable in itself, or as the pursuit of ‘the establishment of an order willed by God, one that entails greater justice among human beings.’ Instead, it is pursued through weapons as a condition for asserting one’s own dominance,” the head of the Catholic Church said, without directly naming any country.
His remarks come amid ongoing conflicts between Ukraine and Russia and in the Gaza Strip, and against a broader international backdrop marked by European concerns over a potential U.S. takeover of Greenland, the autonomous Danish territory, a scenario that could threaten the cohesion of NATO.
International
One Dead and Nine Injured After Explosion in Southwest Madrid
The incident occurred at around 4:10 p.m. local time in the Carabanchel neighborhood, in the southwest of the Spanish capital, according to a spokesperson for emergency services.
One person, whose identity was not disclosed, was killed, and nine others sustained minor injuries, the spokesperson said.
When asked about the possible cause of the explosion, emergency services did not provide any details.
Images shared by authorities on their official X account show a partial collapse of the building’s façade.
In October 2025, the collapse of a building under renovation in central Madrid left four people dead.
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