The world misses Brazil! Because I can assure you, Brazil is back in the world”. That foreign policy would be a priority for the newly elected president. And on this point at least Lula has kept his promise. Portugal is already the sixth country to welcome the Brazilian president visits after taking office, just over 100 days ago. And what does the chosen route tell us politically?
“Lula follows an order that reflects first of all historical priorities, then the need for financial investment, in between the desire for international recognition, some vices of the Workers’ Party here and there, and little value placed on Africa in practice, despite the rhetoric to the contrary,” explains Vinícius Rodrigues Vieira, international relations specialist at Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado.
“Lula started by visiting Argentina and Uruguay, two countries that have always been important to Brazil, Argentina as the main regional partner and Uruguay because it became part of Brazil due to territorial disputes during the colonization period,” he recalls. professor at the DN.
Then the president of Brazil chose the two major world powers, with the United States as the first destination and China as the second. “The United States was the first to receive a visit from the president of Brazil than China, because it would be an embarrassment to Joe Biden if Xi Jinping was first,” says Vieira. As a matter of fact, Biden was one of the first heads of state in the world to congratulate Lula on his victory, indifferent to the defeated Jair Bolsonaro’s noise around suffrage fairness, in the image of what Donald Trump had done twice years earlier.
“But if that apparently gave Washington the chance to be generous to Brazil, the meeting amounted to a statement,” recalled the Brazilian researcher. Furthermore, the US contribution to the Amazon Fund in the destination country was described as “a tip” or “a crumb”. “On the contrary, Beijing has signed 15 memorandums, albeit with questionable content, because China does not always honor agreements,” adds Vinícius Vieira. “It then also passed the United Arab Emirates, the only exception to the route by historical allies because the country in the Middle East is important in meat imports and possible investments.” “And curiously,” notes the Professor of International Relations, “Africa, which is very important from a rhetorical point of view in Lula’s speeches, is put in last place in practice.”
“Moreover, there is still more South America, not so much Latin America as a whole, namely Mexico, because Lula may not want to clash with López Obrador, who led the space of the regional left while Brazil ruled on the right. But Chile and Colombia , with governments on the left, with which Lula might explore affinity He did not visit them, perhaps because these countries, led by Gabriel Boric and Gustavo Petro, of a more enlightened left, diverge from Brazil, influenced by some vices of the Workers’ Party , in the approach to the war in Ukraine”.
“And now it’s Europe’s turn, starting with the former metropolis of Portugal, which makes sense given the ties between the nations, and then Spain.”
And what is the visit and what is the value of relations between the two countries, given that Lisbon was a destination just after the election victory and even before taking office? “There is of course a genuine interest in the bilateral relationship with strategic partners, such as Portugal,” Carolina Pavese, professor of International Relations at the Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing and specialist in Europe, told DN.
“The two countries are part of multilateral organizations, such as the CPLP, the PALOP, and are united by cultural, historical and social issues, given the strong Brazilian emigration in Portugal, but they want to connect even more in areas such as education”. “But also”, he emphasizes, “in trade and investment, as Portugal still has a modest weight in the Brazilian economy…”.
After Argentina, Uruguay, the United States, China, the United Arab Emirates, Portugal, Spain and the trip with yet to be confirmed destinations in Africa, Lula’s tour, which has already visited as many countries in 100 days as Bolsonaro in its entire term, should should be continued at the G7 meeting in Japan between 19 and 21 May, to which Brazil was invited.
Source: DN
