Brazilian Foreign Policy towards Colombia and Venezuela during the Lula da Silva Administrations (2003-2010): Convergences and Divergences under the Perspective of Neo-Developmentalism

Since 2003, the neoliberal paradigm has given way to neodevelopmentalist practices under the Lula da Silva administrations. The central question is: to what extent has Brazil's neo- developmentalist strategy, conceived during the Lula da Silva administrations (2003-2010), affected the country's relations with Colombia and Venezuela? The main objective is to analyze the relations between Brazil and these two countries in order to understand the Brazilian government's stance towards two different ideologies, those of Colombian President Uribe and Venezuelan President Chavez. This is a qualitative study, based on official documents and supported by specialized academic literature. The results of this study indicate that, to a large extent, Brazil's foreign policy has been largely pragmatic, but that in some cases there has been coordination and rejection of both models. Brazil's neo-developmentalist strategy has been relatively successful when applied to its South American neighbors, particularly Colombia and Venezuela.