Lula da Silva took office: the leaders present at the ceremony and a great absence in Brazil

BRASILIA.- Seventeen presidents and heads of government, along with five vice presidents and dozens of foreign ministers and prime ministers from around the world participated in Brasilia in the inauguration ceremony of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as head of state, together with representatives of the main regional and world organizations, according to the official list of the organization.

But in addition to the mobilization of leaders to the capital of Brazil, the day was also marked by an absence: that of the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, who canceled his trip. The Chavista leader last night suspended the trip to Brasilia, where a team of advance agents from Venezuela's presidential security was already present, CBN radio reported.

Despite the fact that the now former president Jair Bolsonaro had lifted the ban on Maduro's entry into Brazilian territory, Venezuela was represented by the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez.

The presidents of Argentina, Alberto Fernández; from Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa; from Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier; from Colombia, Gustavo Petro; from Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou; from Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso; from Bolivia, Luis Arce; from Chile, Gabriel Boric; from Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benítez; from Angola, João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço; from East Timor, José Ramos-Horta; from Cape Verde, José Maria Neves; from Guyana, Mohamed Irfaan Ali; from Suriname, Chandrikapersad Santokhi, and from Honduras, Xiomara Castro. There is also the King of Spain, Felipe VI.

Lacalle Pou traveled accompanied by former Uruguayan presidents José Mujica and Julio María Sanguinetti, as well as Francisco Bustillo, chancellor of his government. The president had summoned them to this official visit as a gesture of "democratic, institutional and republican continuity" that highlights Uruguay from other countries, he said.

The First Lady of Mexico, Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller, also traveled to Brasilia, representing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and the Vice Presidents of Panama, José Gabriel Carrizo; from El Salvador, Felix Ulloa; from China, Wang Qishan; and from Cuba, Salvador Valdés Mesa; and Iran's Vice President for Parliamentary Affairs, Seyed Mohammad Hosseini.

For Peru it was the head of the Council of Ministers, Alberto Otárola -because the country does not have vice presidents and it was not clear who would be in charge if President Dina Boluarte traveled- and for Ukraine, in the middle of the war with Russia, was the deputy prime minister, Yulia Svyrydenko.

The presences at Lula's inauguration are completed with parliamentary heads, foreign ministers, ambassadors and ministers, together with representatives of ECLAC, the UN, the CAF (Development Bank of Latin America), the FAO, Unesco, the International Organization for Labor (ILO), Unicef, UNDP, the Organization of American States (OAS) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Agencies AFP, AP and Télam

- Seventeen presidents and heads of government, along with five vice presidents and dozens of foreign ministers and prime ministers from around the world participated in Brasilia in the inauguration ceremony of Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva as head of state, together with representatives of the main regional and world organizations, according to the official list of the organization.