In the Amazon, Lula and Petro reject 'threats' to Latin American sovereignty

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, rejected on Tuesday (9) “threats” to Latin American sovereignty by launching an organization to combat crime in the Amazon, while the United States positions a military contingent near Venezuela.

The Donald Trump administration has positioned warships with 4,000 troops in the Caribbean Sea and, over the weekend, sent a dozen F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico as part of a counter-narcotics operation.

"We don't need foreign intervention. Nor threats to our sovereignty. We are perfectly capable of being protagonists of our own solutions," Lula said in the northern Brazilian city of Manaus during the inauguration of the International Police Cooperation Center (CCPI).

The organization will coordinate the work of security forces in the nine countries with Amazonian territory, which suffer the effects of deforestation, illegal mining and drug trafficking.

Along with Petro and Ecuadorian Vice President María José Pinto, Lula called for an end to what he considers "true multinational criminal corporations" operating in the Amazon, two months before the COP30 climate conference to be held in the Amazonian city of Belém.

Petro warned about the “threat” of a “possible invasion” of Venezuela.

"No one from South America should support her," said the Colombian president. "It's one thing to solve a political problem, but it's another to destroy our dignity and our sovereignty," he added.

The largest rainforest on the planet is crucial in the fight against global warming.

Petro traveled to Brazil to support the CCPI initiative announced during the Amazon Countries Summit, held in Bogotá in August.

"The mafia buys police officers, judges, prosecutors, politicians, and even presidents, not only in Latin America, but also in the United States. (...) These mafias have become the main destroyers of the Amazon," the Colombian president said on Tuesday.

The CCPI will strengthen the state's presence in remote areas traditionally controlled by criminal organizations, which derive millions in revenue from the illegal extraction of natural resources, according to the Brazilian Presidency.

ll/ffb/val/lm/am