Security & Strategic Review December 2007 (ISSN 1741-4202)

BRAZIL-REGION | New diplomatic strategy starts taking shape. President Lula da Silva has been busy putting into place key pieces of his strategy to contain Venezuela's Hugo Chávez without isolating him. He was prominent among those who rushed to congratulate Chávez for accepting defeat in the referendum on his proposed constitutional reforms, a move designed to coax the Venezuelan leader into preserving democracy in his country by publicly hailing him as a democrat. On 13 December, in a brief visit to Caracas, he took a further step to mollify Chávez : the announcement that a planned refinery in Pernambuco, started by Brazil alone, would go ahead as originally planned: a joint Brazilian-Venezuelan undertaking. He also publicly reaffirmed his desire to see Venezuela become a full partner in Mercosur (which the Brazilian senate is still holding up).

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