Vice President Jair Bolsonaro met with Mike Pence and set a roadmap for Maduro's departure from power in Venezuela

Hamilton Mourão On Monday, he granted one last point to the strategic alliance that Jair Bolsonaro began working with Donald Trump at the White House a few weeks ago. The Vice President of Brazil met today with his American counterpart, Mike Penceand both reaffirmed, among other things, the need to continue to put pressure on Nicolás Maduro's regime in Venezuela, "politically and economically", until he gets out of power .

At a subsequent meeting with the press in Washington, Mourão said that an international armed intervention is not badyzed, an outlet that countries in the region refuse, but expressed support for a possible "Venezuelan military solution" establish a road map involving Venezuela's armed forces as a precursor to a concerted political transition.

When we ask a question Infobae, the Brazilian vice president claimed that the The first step in this roadmap should be an action by Venezuelan forces to "neutralize" armed groups and ultra-militant militias. operating in the country with the support of Cuban intelligence services.

"You can not think that the problem of Venezuela will be solved overnight because the problems are complex," said Mourao. "There is a participation in Venezuela from a lot of Cubans They deal with Venezuelan intelligence and are also responsible for the control of collectives, militias. Then I think it is up to Venezuela's armed forces to neutralize these militias.of these groups, so that a concerted solution can be found for the departure of Mr. Maduro, "he added.

The Cuban government, said the Brazilian vice president, is not only the ideological support of Maduro, he is also deeply involved in the Chavanista power structure. The key to a political solution in Venezuela, however, is not because of increased international pressure in Havana, Mourao said. "It is not a question of putting pressure on Cuba, but today Cuba has a large part of its Venezuelan economy."he said.

"None of our countries will intervene in Venezuela in a military way.The intervention that is conducted is political and economic," said Bolsonaro's vice president. "The military question is Venezuelanshe stressed.

Mourão is not only a retired general with the highest rank of the Brazilian army, but also He served in Caracas during the government of Hugo Chávez. It would therefore maintain links with a sector of Maduro's power structure, which could make it an essential interlocutor. At today's press conference, however, he ruled out that Pence asked him to play this intermediary role, a hypothesis that had been the subject of speculation the latter days.

The sanctions announced last week by Pence against the oil companies transporting oil from Venezuela to Cuba are in the direction of cutting the links between the two countries and pushing them on the economic path, in line with the regional strategy in the framework of of the decisions adopted by the Lima group.

On the Brazilian side, Havana has hardened since the inauguration of Bolsonaro, in a seamless alignment with the White House. But the relations were already cooled under the government of Michel Temer, after the dismissal of Dilma Roussef.

Today 's meeting with Pence at the White House took place just three weeks after Bolsonaro' s visit to Trump, during which the two leaders displayed ideological harmony, exchanged Sincere praise and an alliance that brings governments together more than ever. from Washington and Brasilia.

It was also the first trip of the Brazilian president abroad since his accession to the presidency, which testifies to the vital importance that his government attaches to the bilateral link with the United States. Mourao stressed this idea today and said that among the topics discussed there was also the possibility that Brazil would become an additional ally of NATO, for which he stated that "it worked" .

He also said that the visit to Pence had boosted trust between the two governments and in a personal capacity between officials of both countries. "Now I can call him Mike and he can call me Hamilton"He joked.