Brazil has revoked an invitation to the envoy for Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido to present her diplomatic credentials, the envoy commented on Friday, with Brasilia expected to rule on whether to accept them or not.
Guaido’s ambassador, Maria Teresa Belandria, dismissed the belief that the invitation withdrawal could indicate there was some change in the Brazilian government’s stance. However, she confirmed to journalists that she was “uninvited”.
“Reception or not of the letters of accreditation will be assessed at a more convenient moment,” Brazil's presidential spokesman General Otavio Rego Barro commented, adding that Belandria was the representative of Venezuela’s “legitimate president” and denying an invitation had been withdrawn.
Belandria had been invited to present her credentials at the presidential palace along with the other countries’ envoys, before the government abruptly reconsidered.
According to a report by Brazilian newspapers Folha de S.Paulo and O Globo, Bolsonaro’s government has cancelled her invitation because ex-military advisers seek negotiations with Maduro. Meanwhile, the real Venezuelan ambassador's credentials haven’t been revoked.
“They realise Brazil has to deal with the reality that Maduro is not going anywhere right now and, even if he leaves, Guaido will not be president and a general will likely take his place,” Reuters cited Oliver Stuenkel, a professor of foreign relations at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in São Paulo, as saying regarding the decision.
Brazil's new right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro had taken sides with the US in his sharp criticism of Guaido, and Trump's advisers reportedly pressed him to take a harder line on Maduro, sparking worries about the possible positioning of US troops in Brazil. Mirroring these concerns, Brazilian diplomat Paulo Roberto de Almeida noted resolutely that the recognition of Guaido’s envoy “was never agreed to by the military, who vetoed the idea of a US base in Brazil from day one”.
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A political crisis has been raging in Venezuela since January, when opposition leader Juan Guaido proclaimed himself interim president. Washington and its Western allies endorsed Guaido, while Maduro, in turn, accused the United States of trying to orchestrate a coup in order to install Guaido as its puppet and take over Venezuela’s rich natural resources.
Russia, China, Bolivia, Turkey and a number of other countries have voiced their support for Maduro as the Latin American country’s legitimate president.