Brazil's Lula assails Trump threats, says leaders should seek respect

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva delivered a blunt critique of U.S. President Donald Trump in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais published on Thursday, saying world leaders should seek respect rather than rule by fear.

"Trump has no right to wake up in the morning and threaten a country," Lula told El Pais, referring to the president's public threat on April 7 to wipe out Iranian civilisation as part of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

"He wasn't elected for that, and his Constitution doesn't allow it."

Lula, who is set to meet another leftist critic of Trump, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, on Friday in Barcelona, called the U.S. president's approach to foreign policy "a very misguided game" driven by the assumption that Washington's military and economic power allows it to set the rules.

"No one has the right to frighten others," Lula added. "It's essential that the powerful take greater responsibility for maintaining peace."

The Brazilian president described himself as a leader who prefers respect to fear.

He also called for free elections in Venezuela without interference from Washington, following a surprise January 3 raid by U.S. special forces who captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas.

"What cannot happen is for the U.S. to think it can run Venezuela. That's not normal; it has no place in a democracy," Lula said.

Lula has frequently clashed with Trump over the past decade. His main rival in the last election, far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is now serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup to remain in power, was Trump's close ally and supporter.

Lula, 80, also alluded to his and Trump's advanced age as he recalled how he had called for restraint when Trump, 79, imposed hefty tariffs on Brazil and sanctioned judges handling the Bolsonaro case. The sanctions were later removed and tariffs rolled back.

"Two countries governed by two gentlemen in their eighties should speak with great maturity," Lula said.

-Reporting by David Latona; Editing by Andrei Khalip, William Maclean/Reuters