Brazilian president's support of Venezuelan strongman mars call for unity in South Americabr br Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's strong support of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, President Nicolás Maduro, mars the unity Tuesday, May 30, 2023, at a South American summit that Brazil convened in hopes of reviving a bloc of the region’s 12 politically polarized countries. Da Silva proposed during his opening speech the creation of a regional currency to rival the US dollar in his bid for the dozen countries to work more closely together. But Lula’s warm embrace of Maduro ahead of the meeting drew pushback from some of his neighbors and threatened the sense of unity the Brazilian president was seeking.