Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has criticised what he called the return of a colonial approach towards developing nations during a summit in Colombia.But while Lula did not mention United States President Donald Trump in his remarks, he gestured at actions undertaken by the Trump administration, including the January 3 abduction of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and the fuel blockade in Cuba.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list“It’s not possible for someone to think that they own other countries,” Lula said, in an apparent reference to US policy.“What are they doing with Cuba now? What did they do with Venezuela? Is that democratic?”Lula delivered his remarks at Saturday’s summit for the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which featured a high-level forum with delegates from Africa.He told delegates that their countries had already experienced being plundered for gold, silver, diamonds and minerals.“After taking everything we had, now they want to own the critical minerals and rare earths that we have,” Lula said, without specifying who “they” might be. “They want to colonise us again.”The left-wing Brazilian president also criticised the ongoing war launched by the US and Israel against Iran.He drew a parallel between that conflict, which began on February 28, and the US-led Iraq war, which began in 2003 on the pretext of eliminating “weapons of mass destruction”.“Iran has been invaded under the pretext tha …
