In an unsubstantiated claim, Venezuela’s Attorney General, Tarek William Saab, alleged that Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva may have faked a recent injury to avoid attending the BRICS summit and to block Venezuela’s entry into the organization. In a statement on the Venezuelan Public Ministry’s social media, Saab suggested that the head injury Lula sustained was “manipulated” to serve as an excuse for skipping the event in Russia.

According to Saab, Lula’s supposed “accident” served as justification for not fulfilling commitments to international leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. “The official account of the accident was nothing more than a ruse to prevent Maduro’s presence,” the prosecutor wrote in a public statement.

Saab’s allegations are based on a recent video of President Lula, who appeared publicly with a visible scar near the nape of his neck, the result of the domestic incident that had kept him from traveling to Russia. However, Saab argued that Lula’s “healthy and smiling” appearance was proof that the accident was fabricated, reiterating his call for an investigation into the Brazilian president.

The attorney general’s statements have intensified diplomatic tensions between Brazil and Venezuela. In recent days, Venezuela’s foreign ministry labeled Brazil’s decision to block Venezuela’s entry into BRICS as an “inexplicable and immoral aggression,” accusing Brazil of maintaining a hostile stance toward the Bolivarian Revolution—an approach they associate with the previous administration of Jair Bolsonaro.

Despite the accusations, the Brazilian government has chosen not to respond to Saab’s claims. Diplomatic sources informed CNN that, for the time being, the directive is to ignore the controversy. Saab’s stance has sparked divisions within Latin America’s leftist circles, where the prosecutor’s recent claim that Lula is a “spokesperson for a CIA-co-opted left” had already caused friction. In a statement, Nicolás Maduro’s government clarified that Saab’s views are personal and do not represent Venezuela’s official position.

The tensions between Brazil and Venezuela reflect the complexity of diplomatic relations in Latin America, especially with the growing influence of the BRICS bloc. Although the Brazilian government remains silent, accusations and suspicions in the regional political landscape suggest that bilateral relations are likely to remain strained in the near future.