Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is attending the EU-CELAC summit in Colombia armed with a specific diplomatic strategy for regional peace, which he has already presented to US President Donald Trump. Lula revealed to reporters that in a recent meeting in Malaysia, he directly urged Trump to follow the “example of former US President George W. Bush” in his approach to Venezuela. This refers to Bush’s participation in efforts to “pacify” Venezuela following the 2002 coup attempt against Hugo Chávez.
This revelation provides critical context for Lula’s surprise attendance at the Santa Marta summit. His foreign ministry has stated his visit is an act of “regional solidarity with Venezuela,” a country that has been the target of repeated military threats from Trump. By invoking the diplomacy of a previous Republican administration, Lula is offering Trump a face-saving, off-ramp from a path of conflict.
Lula’s core message to Trump was simple and direct: “I told Trump that Latin America is a region of peace.” This mantra is expected to be a central theme for the Latin American bloc at the summit. It creates a unified philosophical front against not only the threats to Venezuela but also the other major US military action under fire: the anti-drug operation that has killed over 60 people and been labeled “extrajudicial executions” by the summit’s host, Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
This high-stakes diplomacy is completely eclipsing the summit’s formal agenda, which was intended to focus on a “Declaration of Santa Marta” for cooperation on renewable energy and technology. The summit is also suffering from the conspicuous absence of top European officials like Ursula von der Leyen, leaving a leadership vacuum that Lula is capably filling with his own security-focused agenda.
Brazilian diplomats have confirmed that the US military’s actions “will come up” in discussions, likely brought to the floor by the Venezuelan delegation. Lula’s strategic invocation of George W. Bush’s policy is a masterful diplomatic gambit, attempting to reframe the regional discussion from one of inevitable conflict to one of proven diplomatic precedent.