Brazil's Lula calls Chavez a 'great peacemaker'
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| Published on Friday, March 28, 2008 |
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RECIFE, Brazil (AFP): Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez showed himself to be "the great peacemaker" in calming the crisis this month pitting his government and Ecuador against Colombia, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Thursday.
But, Lula recognized at a joint media conference with Chavez at his side, the leftwing Venezuelan leader also "enjoyed provoking."
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| Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva speaks during a joint press conference with his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez (out of frame) in the northern Brazilian city of Recife. AFP PHOTO |
"Who was the great peacemaker in the conflict between Colombia and Ecuador? It was clearly President Chavez," Lula told the reporters in the northern Brazilian city of Recife, on the second day of a visit by Chavez.
Chavez played a key role in the crisis triggered after Colombia staged a March 1 raid inside Ecuador to kill a rebel chief.
At first he supported his ally Ecuador by sending troops to the border with Colombia.
But a week later, at a summit in the Dominican Republic, he abruptly made a diplomatic U-turn by saying the crisis was over after Colombia apologized, and the leaders of the three South American countries shook hands.
"The pacifying discourse of Chavez allowed that meeting to become a productive meeting," Lula, a more centrist leftwing president than Chavez, said, extending his congratulations to the "ex-guerrilla turned peacemaker."
The Brazilian leader said he had known Chavez "for quite some time" and hailed his concern for his country's poor.
The two presidents met for hours Thursday and visited a site of a refinery being built that will handle oil for both countries. | | | | Reads : 333 | | | |
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