twitter whatsapp copylink google Add Al Jazeera on Google info Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva greets his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, during the 10th CELAC summit in Bogota, Colombia [Colombian Presidency/Reuters handout] By The Associated Press Published On 21 Mar 2026 21 Mar 2026 Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has criticised what he called the return of a colonial approach towards developing nations during a summit in Colombia. But while Lula did not mention United States President Donald Trump in his remarks, he gestured at actions undertaken by the Trump administration, including the January 3 abduction of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and the fuel blockade in Cuba. “It’s not possible for someone to think that they own other countries,” Lula said, in an apparent reference to US policy. “What are they doing with Cuba now? What did they do with Venezuela? Is that democratic?” Lula delivered his remarks at Saturday’s summit for the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which featured a high-level forum with delegates from Africa. He told delegates that their countries had already experienced being plundered for gold, silver, diamonds and minerals. “After taking everything we had, now they want to own the critical minerals and rare earths that we have,” Lula said, without specifying who “they” might be. “They want to colonise us again.” The left-wing Brazilian president also criticised the ongoing war launched by the US and Israel against Iran. He drew a parallel between that conflict, which began on February 28, and the US-led Iraq war, which began in 2003 on the pretext of eliminating “weapons of mass destruction”. “Iran has been invaded under the pretext that Iran was building a nuclear bomb,” Lula said, before pivoting to the US campaign in Iraq, which resulted in the overthrow of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. “Where are Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons?” Lula asked. “Where are they? Who found them?” Washington’s history of intervention in Latin America goes back more than 200 years to when then-President James Monroe claimed the hemisphere as part of the US sphere of influence. While large-scale, overt US involvement in the region mostly petered out after the Cold War, Trump has rekindled the legacy. Since assuming office last year, Trump has launched boat strikes against alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean, ordered a naval blockade on Venezuelan oil exports, and gotten involved in electoral politics in Honduras and Argentina. Trump imposed a 50 percent tariff on Brazilian goods last year, citing the trial against the country’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, as a motive. The US has also shown keen interest in Brazil’s rare earth deposits. Then, on January 3, US forces abducted and imprisoned Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, flying him to New York to face drug and weapons charges. While such actions have thrilled right-wing leaders across the continent, th

Originally reported by Al Jazeera English. Published on ABN12.