The US Increases Risk of War in South America, Lula Warns

Brazil’s former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva harshly criticized President Jair Bolsonaro’s new National Defense Policy (NDP) and warned that the United States is pushing his country into a warlike conflict against Venezuela.

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“I have been reading with concern the reports on the NDP new edition. Our governments have tried to make the defense policy and strategy instruments for peace, sovereignty, and autonomous development,” Lula tweeted.

"It is alarming to realize that old theories about rivalries with neighboring countries are being revived and that our Armed Forces can be used for actions incompatible with constitutional principles related to the non-intervention and self-determination of peoples," he added.

The Worker's Party (PT) leader also warned that the Bolsonaro administration is obviously submitting to the U.S. geopolitical interests.

"The concern increases when we see the automatic alignment and submission that are depicted in a shameful video in which a Brazilian general is treated as if he were an employee of the U.S. Southern Command, which is responsible for possible armed actions against Latin American countries,” Lula pointed out.

“Brazil urgently needs to regain its national sovereignty. And that should be the goal of the NDP new edition,” he explained.

Lula's statements come after a recent meeting in Florida in which the Southcom head Adm. Craig Faller spoke about Brazilian and Colombian generals as if they were at his service.