anner of the CELAC–EU summit scheduled for Nov. 9-10 in Santa Marta, Colombia. Photo: Colombian government.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—On Tuesday, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva confirmed that he will participate in the upcoming summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) with the European Union, stating that the meeting “only makes sense” if it addresses recent US extrajudicial executions in the region.
“The CELAC meeting only makes sense at this time if we discuss this issue of US warships here in the seas of Latin America,” Lula told the press, as reported by Telesur.
The president was alluding to the meeting scheduled for November 9-10 in Santa Marta, Colombia. The Colombian government reports that preparations are nearly complete, with Colombia’s Deputy Minister of Multilateral Affairs Mauricio Jaramillo leading negotiations for the summit’s final declaration.
📌El presidente de #Brasil🇧🇷, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, ha puesto una condición clara para la próxima cumbre de la #CELAC en #Colombia🇨🇴: debatir y asumir una posición frente a la presencia de buques de guerra de #EEUU🇺🇸 en los mares de la región.
"Solo tiene sentido una… pic.twitter.com/rJwe2TVT63
— teleSUR TV (@teleSURtv) November 4, 2025
Lula hinted that Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum will also attend.
The Brazilian leader reiterated his stance on Venezuela following his meeting with US President Donald Trump in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Trump regime has exponentially increased hostilities against Caracas.
“Latin America is a zone of peace,” Lula said to the press. “I do not want us to suffer a ground invasion. I told President Trump, and I repeat it to you, that political problems are not solved with weapons. They are solved with dialogue.”
The US military escalation has drawn widespread condemnation. Since August, the US has deployed warships, a submarine, fighter jets, and troops off the coast of Venezuela, reaching unprecedented levels of military aggression in the region.
The US has murdered at least 67 citizens through approximately 16 missile strikes against small civilian boats in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker TĂĽrk condemned the US strikes last week, referring to them as unacceptable and demanding that they be stopped and investigated.
These attacks have also been criticized by the governments of Colombia, Mexico and Brazil, alongside United Nations experts, who characterize them as “summary executions” that violate international law.
Venezuela under threat
In September, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro observed that Venezuela is a victim of a multifaceted war orchestrated by the United States. He described the deployment of US marines in the Caribbean is armed aggression aimed at regime change and the eventual installation of a puppet government, subservient to the US, to plunder Venezuela’s vast natural resources.
President Maduro has publicly accused Washington of inventing a new eternal war. Recent polls indicate that 94% of Venezuelans object to the US military presence in the region.
At the end of October, Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB), the Bolivarian Militia, and the national police began military drills across the country to continue defensive preparations for confronting external threats from the US. This came days before Trump openly authorized the CIA to carry out lethal covert operations against Caracas.
In August, Washington accused President Maduro, without providing evidence or substantiation, of leading an unknown criminal organization allegedly named “the Cartel of the Suns”. The Trump regime also claims that President Maduro is the head of the defunct Tren de Aragua criminal gang and even linked him to Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel. As a result, US Attorney General Pam Bondi doubled the reward for information leading to President Maduro’s arrest to US $50 million—a bounty that is double that formerly placed on Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.
Rio’s massacre
During his press meeting, President Lula also described the police operation that left 121 dead in Rio de Janeiro last week as a “massacre.” He announced the government’s intention to launch an independent investigation to clarify the circumstances of an operation that local authorities had presented as a success against the Comando Vermelho gang.
Lula said the original court order was for arrests and not for the mass execution of people, making it necessary to verify “under what conditions” the operation occurred. He stressed that while the high death toll might be seen by some as a success, from the state’s perspective it was “disastrous.”
The Brazilian president added that his government is seeking to have Federal Police experts participate in the investigation, coordinating with judicial bodies that have already asked to preserve “all material elements” related to the massacre, following instructions from the Federal Supreme Court, which is closely monitoring the case.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
OT/JRE/SL
