President Marcelo has suggested that the tensions between the United States and Venezuela, which have led to a blanket airspace security alert, need to be monitored “very carefully” because “there are several pieces to the puzzle”.
Speaking in Porto last night, the soon-to-be-outgoing head of state said that “everything that is currently happening in the world” could well be connected. Heightened tensions in Venezuela, for example, could be “pure coincidence, or not”.
The situation in the South American country coincides with the presentation of a (highly contentious) peace plan by the world’s greatest superpower, “intended to meet, at least in part, the intentions of another very strong regional power, Russia.
“And what happens is that the great powers, as they did in the past, draw lines. Look, this is mine, this is yours, this is my sphere of influence; that is your sphere of influence. There is a coincidence in time, there is,” he said.
In Marcelo’s view, “what a power does in one place has to do with what it does or does not do in another. And when it comes to relations between two or three great powers, the United States of America, China, and, on a different level, but also a very strong regional power, the Russian Federation, then you have to look to see whether what is happening in one place has anything to do with what is happening or may happen in another.
“And if this is dealt with at the level of major powers, to what extent do they talk to each other to say, look, I’m going to act in a certain way here. Do you accept or not? And then, in return, I’m going to act differently elsewhere, and that may be of interest to you…”
Coming at a moment when several figures are ‘contending’ for the role of Portugal’s next president, Marcelo’s reading of the events of recent days is indicative of how wide an understanding of global power-play heads of state require. And how ‘careful’ they need to be: firstly, because relations between countries are at stake, and secondly, because there is a huge Portuguese community in the United States (many of them traumatised by the activities of ICE immigration authorities) “and an even larger Portuguese community in Venezuela” – which is currently effectively ‘marooned’ inside the country.
“We must be very careful in everything we say. Any political instability, with the notion that there may be a confrontation, or there may be a clash, or there may be open conflict between countries like that, is of great concern to us for the Portuguese people living in those countries, particularly in Venezuela,” Marcelo admitted.
Thus, “we must monitor very carefully various things that are pieces of the puzzle. You know that in today’s world, everything is connected.”
Source: Lusa
