Brazilian President Lula, received by Joe Biden on Friday, said the two leaders “should never again allow” attacks on democracy like the ones the United States and Brazil experienced two years apart.
The US president, along with his guest, acknowledged that democracy was “put to the test” in both countries on January 6, 2021, when supporters of former President Donald Trump attacked the Capitol in Washington, DC, and on January 8, 2023, when a crowd won over the former president The head of state Jair Bolsonaro broke into the institutions of Brasilia.
But “democracy won,” said Joe Biden.
“Promote respect for human rights”
The two leaders pledged to work together to “strengthen democratic institutions” and “promote respect for human rights,” according to a joint statement issued Friday night by Washington and Brasilia.
Earlier in the day, during a brief exchange with the press in the Oval Office, before the start of the bilateral meeting proper, Lula strongly criticized his far-right predecessor, currently present in the United States, for spreading “false information in the morning, in the afternoon, at night.”
“It reminds me of something,” replied the American president.
“Bolsonaro is a faithful copy of Trump, it’s like going through a photocopier,” Lula also said in an interview with CNN, broadcast before their meeting at the White House.
“Je vais vous dire une chose: Bolsonaro has no chance of becoming president of Brésil again”, as I stated on the chain, tout en indiquant qu’il ne demanderait pas l’extradition of his rival who is currently found in Florida .
“I am not going to talk to Biden about it because it will depend on the Brazilian justice system,” he argued.
Eliminate deforestation in the Amazon by 2023
In the Oval Office, Lula lamented that “Brazil isolated itself for four years.” He also reiterated his promise to eliminate deforestation in the Amazon jungle by 2030: “Caring for the Amazon jungle is caring for the planet, our own survival.”
Deforestation in the Amazon has increased by 60% in each of the years of Bolsonaro’s government (2019-2022). He continued, but it slowed down significantly from Lula’s first month in office.
In January, 167 km2 of the largest tropical forest on the planet were destroyed, the equivalent of more than 22,000 soccer fields. But this is much less than the 430 km2 deforested in January 2022, when Jair Bolsonaro was still in power.
The United States has announced its intention to work with Congress to finance programs for the protection and conservation of the Brazilian Amazon, including initial support for the “Amazon Fund,” a multilateral financial mechanism created in 2008 and administered by Brazil to support the fight against deforestation. , details the joint press release.
“I spoke about the need for rich countries to assume their responsibilities to help countries with tropical forests and not just Brazil,” Lula told reporters earlier.
Lula has relaunched this fund that his predecessor had frozen, and to which Norway and, to a lesser extent, Germany have contributed until now. Brazil is now looking for other donors.
The sensitive issue of Ukraine
Regarding Ukraine, a sensitive issue between the United States and Brazil, Lula said during his exchange with the press that he spoke of “the need to create a group of countries that are not involved, directly or indirectly, in Russia’s war against Ukraine, so that we have the opportunity to build peace.”
The United States is the big driver of the Western response to Russia, while Brazil has condemned the Russian invasion at the UN but has not adopted economic sanctions against Moscow or sent munitions to Kiev.
The Brazilian president finally invited Joe Biden to visit Brazil, an invitation accepted by the US president, specifies their joint press release.
Source: BFM TV
