Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said yesterday Monday, with his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva by his side, that a “new era” is beginning in the relations between the two states, during his first visit to Brasilia since 2015.

Venezuela’s socialist president was treated as a pariah by Lula’s predecessor, far-right Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022).

“Today begins a new era in the relations between our countries, between our peoples,” assured Mr. Maduro, who arrived Sunday evening in the capital of Brazil and will participate today in a meeting of the heads of state of South America.

“Venezuela has always been an excellent partner for Brazil. But because of the political situation and mistakes made, he spent eight years without coming to Brazil,” Lula said, referring to his counterpart.

“Maduro is returning” to the regional scene, added the center-left president of Brazil, for whom the rewarming of the relationship between the two states is a “historic” moment.

Bilateral relations were non-existent during Mr Bolsonaro’s days in power, as the former president called Venezuela’s socialist government a “dictatorship” and had recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president, as had some fifty other countries, including the US and many states of Europe.

Lula scathingly questioned how Europe, a continent with “full democracy” that created the European Union, “could accept the idea” of imposing “a crook as president” simply “because it didn’t like the one who was elected.”

In his first stint as Brazil’s president (2003-2010), the former metal worker and trade unionist cultivated a close relationship with Hugo Chávez, Mr Maduro’s late predecessor and mentor.

Today’s meeting in Brasilia aims to “renew the dialogue” between the South American states, to seek a “common vision” in areas such as health, infrastructure, energy, the environment and the fight against organized crime.