On December 3, 2023, in a press conference in Brazil, Lula Da Silva rebuked Nicolas Maduro for his aggression towards Guyana and threat of invasion, and also made fun of the December 3 referendum which sought popular support in annexing the Essequibo county of Guyana.
The video, posted below, was trimmed from a television broadcast, and posted on Tiktok by a Brazilian social media personality.
TRANSLATION
Lula: I spoke with the Guyanese President via telephone twice. Celso went to Venezuela to speak with Maduro. They have a referendum…I think that today is the referendum. Probably the referendum will give what Maduro wants because it’s “a calling to the people.” (Laughs sarcastically). He doesn’t accept a decision that Brazil already accepted. Because it’s not the decision of 1897 as much as the decision of 1965. And there is an accord, a contract, that Brazil has accepted, that they are saying they do not accept now. So let’s see how that is going to work out!
I think there is one thing that the world doesn’t need. I think there is one thing that South America doesn’t need right now. And that’s confusion. If there is one thing that we need to grow and improve the lives of our people, is that we lower the beam and work for the betterment of our people, and not be thinking about fights. Don’t be inventing stories. So, I hope that good sense prevails!
Reporter: Are you afraid of a war happening in the continent?
Lula: Who isn’t afraid of wars dude? Each time I see one of those things exploding on the Gaza Strip, I imagine what if it was exploding above my head! People hold such big meetings to talk about reducing CO2 emissions, and then there are these guys throwing bombs! It’s a contradiction!
