Argentina’s decision to refuse BRICS membership ‘stupidity’
Such a decision “takes Argentina back to the 19th century”
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro criticized the decision of his Argentine counterpart Javier Milei to refuse the country’s accession to BRICS.
“By excluding Argentina from BRICS, he [Javier Milei] is acting against the Argentines. This is one of the most clumsy and stupid things that Miley has done against Argentina,” Maduro said in a traditional interview with Le Monde diplomatique newspaper on January 1.
He added that such a decision “takes Argentina back to the 19th century.”
BRICS was formed in 2006 and initially included Brazil, Russia, India and China. South Africa joined the intergovernmental organization in 2011.
Five new members (Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia) formally became full-fledged members of the BRICS group, and commence joint work in that capacity, on January 1. Argentina was slated to become the sixth new member of the intergovernmental association, but on December 29 new Argentinian President Javier Milei officially notified the BRICS members that his country will decline the group’s invitation to join issued after its August 2023 summit in Johannesburg. In his letter, Milei said that he did not consider his country’s participation in the BRICS group to be appropriate at this time.
Earlier also, Nicolas Maduro had already harshly criticized the neoliberal political program and plans of the newly elected President of Argentina.
“The presidential elections in Argentina were won by far-right neo-fascism – the far right with a colonial project for Argentina, who intend to lead the neo-colonial project throughout Latin America and the Caribbean,” had said Maduro .
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro expressed hope for his country to join BRICS as a full member at the next summit in 2024.
“At the summit in South Africa, Venezuela was accepted as a partner. And I hope that at the next summit in Russia <…> Venezuela will join BRICS+ as a permanent member,” Maduro said in a traditional interview on January 1 with the newspaper Le Monde diplomatique.
He stressed that “BRICS is the future of humanity,” pointing at the economic potential of the group and the capabilities of the New BRICS Development Bank.
“We are betting on BRICS as part of a new world, a new balance, as part of the Bolivarian geopolitical concept, a world of balance, a world of equals,” Maduro concluded.
It is pertinent to mention here that in PPP terms China is No. 1 Economy of the World, India is at No. 3, Russia is at No. 5, Brazil is at No. 8 and South Africa at No. 33.
