Venezuela and Nicaragua were left off the list of prospective members of nation states applying for membership in the BRICS community, according to reports.
The BRICS intergovernmental organization closed the list of countries hoping to join the bloc this Tuesday, just hours before it began its 16th Summit in Kazan, Russia. The two communist countries were blocked after the Brazilian government exerted political pressure so that both regimes were excluded from the list of possible new members, Brazilian media TV Globo reported.
Some reports suggested Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva made the decision as a result of lack of election transparency in the recent July 28 Venezuelan presidential elections and concerns human rights violations being committed on behalf of Caracas and Managua.
Brazil is a founding member state of the BRICS community, which emerged in 2009 alongside Russia, India and China. South Africa joined the following year in 2010 after the community was officially established and Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates joined the group this year.
Argentina, now under the leadership of free market capitalist and President Javier Milei, recently withdrew its membership from the bloc.
Nicaragua's former ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), Arturo McFields, described the decision as a “total humiliation” for the communist Ortega and Maduro regimes.
“They did not manage to integrate into the BRICS,” McFields said. “They did not even manage to be considered at some point. Brazil, as a founding member of the group, said no. It is a sweet revenge from Lula after the humiliations of the Nicaraguan dictatorship and the insults issued by Ortega,” he explained.
He then said the intergovernmental organization’s decision was a reversal for Ortega who is used to getting his way.
“Ortega is used to insulting, humiliating and getting his way, but Lula responded in a very subtle and forceful way, leaving him out of the BRICS,” he explained. “[Nicaragua and Venezuela] were not only humiliated by the democracies of the world, but also by these great powers that are sympathizers of a radical left.”
Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, who also aspired to join the bloc applied for membership along with Vice President Delcy Rodríguez and Foreign Minister Iván Gil.
According to Diario las Américas, Maduro is trying to gain access to other economies in the midst of the Venezuela’s deep crisis, which the regime attributes to Western sanctions.
