CARACAS: Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro vowed on Saturday that his country would not be silenced after Brazil vetoed its bid to join the BRICS group of emerging economies. The South American country is in the throes of an unprecedented economic crisis, which the government says is a result of US sanctions, and has long sought to join the BRICS group. Venezuela reacted furiously to Brazil’s veto at a summit in the Russian city of Kazan earlier this week, calling the decision a “hostile” and “immoral” act.

Returning home from Kazan, Maduro said on state television that “no one will block or silence Venezuela, not today, not tomorrow, not ever”, without mentioning Brazil. Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is a long-time ally of Maduro. But relations between them have been strained since Maduro’s disputed re-election following the July 28 ballot, which the opposition claims to have won.

An advisor to Lula, former foreign minister Celso Amorim, attributed the veto to a “breach of confidence” by Venezuela. He said Maduro had promised Lula he would publish detailed results from the July 28 election but had yet to do so.

The Venezuelan opposition has said those results would show that Maduro was handily defeated by Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who fled to Spain in September after a warrant was issued for his arrest on what the opposition calls trumped-up charges. Maduro said he had met officials from “nearly 30 governments” in Kazan and that “all” had hailed his “great electoral victory”.

The BRICS, which already included Brazil, Russia, India, South Africa and China as members, were joined in 2024 by Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. — AFP