The president of Brazil, Lula da Silva, told his US counterpart, Joe Biden, this Friday that “Brazil has been marginalized for four years” thanks to the government of Jair Bolsonaro, whom he accused of “underestimating international relations.”
In a meeting at the White House, in Washington, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva also criticized his predecessor for surrounding himself with ‘fake news’ and for not “liking to maintain relations with any country”, for which he will work to “replace Brazil in the new world geopolitics”
“Brazil was isolated for four years. (…) You know that Brazil spent four years marginalizing itself. The previous president did not like to maintain relations with any country. His world ended and began with ‘fake news’… in the morning, in the afternoon and at night. It seems to me that he underestimated international relations,” Lula told Joe Biden.
Faced with this description of Bolsonaro, Biden replied: “It sounds familiar”, causing laughter from those present in the room.
The Democrat also noted that the democracies of the United States and Brazil were “severely tested” but “prevailed.”
“The strong democracies of both nations have been put to the test recently… barely put to the test. But in both the United States and Brazil, democracy prevailed,” he stressed.
The fact that both powers will face similar challenges linked to political radicalization and hate speech in the virtual space led to the fact that these are two issues that stand out in this, the first visit by Lula da Silva to Washington since he took office or his third term. , in January.
In both countries, the extreme radical right has shown its most violent side through attacks in Washington and Brasilia.
On January 6, 2021, just days before Biden’s inauguration, supporters of former US President Donald Trump invaded the Capitol in an attempt to prevent the certification of the Democrat’s victory.
Already on January 8 of this year, supporters of Jair Bolsonaro attacked the three powers in Brasilia, in an attempt to provoke a coup against Lula da Silva, who had taken office on the first day of the year.
“I believe that we must continue to defend together the democratic values that are the core of our strength, not only in our hemisphere, but in the world. Values like human rights and the rule of law,” Biden said in the Oval Office.
The Brazilian leader then took the opportunity to thank the “solidarity” of the Democrat for the recognition of his inauguration as president and also thanked Joe Biden’s “stance” in defense of democracy.
Lula da Silva also congratulated the US head of state on his State of the Union address, delivered on Tuesday before the US Congress, saying it was a “speech that would go down very well if delivered in Brazil.”
The Brazilian president also stressed that the two countries must work together in the fight against inequality and in defense of the Amazon rainforest.
One of the unknowns of the meeting is whether Biden will take advantage of Lula’s visit to announce what would be the first contribution from the United States to the Amazon Fund, created in 2009 to help combat deforestation and financed mainly with transfers of funds from Norway and Germany.
However, Norway and Germany froze their contributions to that fund due to the advance of deforestation in the Amazon during the Bolsonaro government, but expressed their desire to resume them with Lula in power.
At the closed-door meeting, the focus of the conversation is expected to turn not only on combating climate change, but also on strategies to crack down on anti-democratic extremism.
Joe Biden received Lula da Silva and First Lady Rosângela (Janja) Lula da Silva before 4:00 pm (local time, plus five hours in mainland Portugal) at the White House.
The first lady of the United States, Jill Biden, was not present at the reception “because she was not feeling well,” according to the White House.
This is Lula’s seventh visit to the White House, having been received four times by George W. Bush and twice by Barack Obama, according to the Brazilian government.
Source: TSF
