© Reuters. Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva arrives at Blair House, across the street from the White House, where he will stay during his visit to Washington, USA, on February 9, 2023. REUTERS/Leah Millis
by Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US President Joe Biden met Brazil’s leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Friday in a reset of relations between the hemisphere’s two largest democracies following the end of the stormy government of Donald Trump’s ally Jair Bolsonaro.
The two leaders opened their evening meeting at the White House by speaking to the press about their shared values: fighting climate change and protecting democracy against a rise in authoritarianism.
“We have to continue to defend democracy and our democratic values that form the core of our strength,” Biden told Lula ahead of a private Oval Office session between the leaders, adding that the two were on “the same page” over the “climate crisis.”
Bolsonaro enjoyed the vocal support of former US President Trump, a Republican, but Brazil’s diplomatic relations cooled with other traditional allies during the far-right leader’s presidency.
Bolsonaro flew to Florida two days before his term was due to end on January 1, after questioning the results of the October 30 runoff election that he narrowly lost to Lula. Days later, a violent movement of Bolsonaro supporters who deny the elections stormed the presidential palace, Congress and the Brazilian Supreme Court.
Brazil “marginalized itself for four years” under the former president, Lula said at the White House, without mentioning Bolsonaro by name.
His world, Lula said, had “started and ended with fake news morning, noon and night,” prompting Biden to laugh and chime in, “sounds familiar.”
Lula said that Brazil was trying to reposition itself in the world, and that both countries should never again allow the kind of attacks like the one on Bolsonaro supporters last month or the one he repeated on the US Capitol on the 6th. January 2021, to avoid certification of Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump.
Lula also said that the two leaders could also work together to combat inequality and climate change.
For all the bonhomie, the leaders were not expected to agree on the war in Ukraine, given Brazil’s neutrality. Biden has led an international coalition to punish Russia for invading Ukraine.
Lula wants to see a negotiated peace discussion involving more neutral global players, a position he said he discussed with Biden.
“You need to have partners capable of building a group of negotiators with credibility on both sides who can end the war,” Lula told reporters after the meeting, adding that he sensed the same interest in ending the war from Biden. .
Lula has also defended his decision not to provide the German-made artillery ammunition sought for Western support of the Ukrainian defense. “If I sent the ammunition, I would join the war. I don’t want to join the war. I want peace,” he previously said on CNN.
Lula’s visit to the White House followed a meeting with Sen. Bernie Sanders and other lawmakers from Biden’s Democratic Party.
AMAZON SUPPORT
The Brazilian Foreign Ministry had said that support for democracy, human rights and the environment would be at the center of Lula’s agenda in Washington.
Brazil is eager for more countries to contribute to an ‘Amazon Fund (NASDAQ:)’ initiated by Germany and Norway to support rainforest protection and sustainable development projects.
The Biden administration is considering joining the $1.3 billion fund, two US officials confirmed to Reuters.
A US contribution to the Brazilian-administered fund would underscore the restoration of ties between the two countries after the recent period of icy relations.
Lula told reporters after the meeting that he believes the United States will join the Amazon Fund, but said he and Biden did not specifically discuss it.
“I think it is necessary for them to participate,” Lula said. “I discussed the need for rich countries to take responsibility for financing all countries that have forests.”
Lula traveled to Washington with Environment Minister Marina Silva and is expected to meet Biden’s climate envoy John Kerry. The foreign, finance and racial equality ministers are also part of the delegation.
The new administration signaled its commitment to protect the Amazon rainforest this week by launching a enforcement operation against illegal gold miners who have devastated the Yanomami indigenous reserve in northern Brazil.
Bolsonaro had relaxed environmental protections, encouraging mining and logging in the Amazon that he said would help economic development and allow deforestation in the region to reach a 15-year high.
At the White House, Lula said the Amazon rainforest had been “invaded” under the previous administration, adding that he was committed to achieving zero deforestation by 2030.