Brasilia, October 9 (RHC-teleSUR)-- Dilma Rousseff, the former Workers Party president of Brazil who was expelled in a constitutional coup last year, criticized current right-wing president Michel Temer for being “submissive” to the United States regarding Venezuela. 

"The Temer government has an absolutely incorrect position towards Venezuela, not only for the pressure of U.S. President Donald Trump and Temer's intention to be submissive, but above all the fact that it accepted joint military actions with U.S. troops in the Amazon,” Rousseff said in an interview with Sputnik, referring to the U.S. military exercises in the Brazilian Amazon scheduled to take place in November. 

Calling the move to surround Venezuela militarily “undemocratic,” Rousseff compared the attacks of the U.S. against Venezuelan sovereignty to their support for opposition forces in Syria.  “It was the opposition (in Syria) that gave birth to terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State group,” she said. 

“Venezuela is a very important country for the international geopolitical order,” she said, stressing that the South American country's large oil reserves make it a particularly vital target for imperialist forces. 

Former president and Workers Party founder Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva were also discussed in the interview, with Dilma Rousseff calling for Lula's return to the presidency and saying that any elections in Brazil without Lula, who remains the most popular politician in the country, would be “illegitimate.” 

Lula was charged with corruption earlier this year, accusations which he denies.  In spite of the accusations levied against him, Lula remains a popular candidate for presidency, actively touring the country and building support.