US wants ‘to colonize us again’ – Lula to Latin American leaders

Brazil’s president has slammed the US kidnapping of Nicolas Maduro and the oil blockade of Cuba

Latin America faces the threat of a return to colonial rule, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said, describing the White House’s recent moves in the region as undemocratic.

The United States kidnapped Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in January before imposing an oil blockade on Cuba last month after US President Donald Trump accused the island nation of being a threat. Washington has also launched numerous lethal, extrajudicial strikes on boats in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific in an attempt to fight drug trafficking.

Lula blasted Washington’s foreign policy during the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) summit in Bogota, Columbia on Saturday, while refraining from directly mentioning the US or Trump.

“It’s not possible for someone to think that they own other countries. What are they doing with Cuba now? What did they do with Venezuela? Is that democratic?” he asked rhetorically.

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Latina America has already been drained of gold, diamonds and minerals, the Brazilian leader said, referring to US interference in the region since the 1823 declaration of the Monroe Doctrine, which laid claim to the Western Hemisphere as a US sphere of interest. Washington’s presence had subsided significantly following the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s.

“After taking everything we had, now they want to own the critical minerals and rare earths that we have. They want to colonize us again,” he warned.

The leaders of Latin American countries “cannot allow anyone to interfere and violate the territorial integrity of each country,” Lula stressed.

Trump said earlier this week that he expects to have the “honor” of “taking Cuba in some form,” claiming that he can do anything he wants with the island.

Amid oil shortages caused by the US blockade, Cuba plunged into a second nationwide blackout since the start of the week on Saturday, leaving more than 10 million people without electricity.

READ MORE: Cuba suffers nationwide power outage amid US blockade

Colombian President Gustavo Petro told Politico on Thursday that Latin America is not a “land to be conquered.” He advised Washington to engage in dialogue with Havana, “instead of imposing an empire from which Cubans always liberate themselves.”