Lula da Silva met with Joe Biden in the United States

In the framework of the presidential tour of Brazilian Lula da Silva in Washington, his US counterpart Joe Biden received him today in the Oval Office of the White House, where he affirmed that democracy was tested and has prevailed both in his country and in Brazil. The meeting between the leaders had great expectations since they are the most important countries in the West and Brazil’s second largest trading partner, after China. The relationship between the two countries had cooled during the mandate of former President Jair Bolsonaro, allied to former Republican President Donald Trump.After the bilateral, the leaders offered a speech in the Oval Office of the White House in which Da Silva thanked Biden for the recognition for his electoral victory over Jair Bolsonaro in the October elections. ” Democracy was put to the test in our countries, our mutual agendas sound very similar. I affirm America’s sustained support for democracy,” Biden said, referring to the fact that both he and Lula faced far-right allies such as Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, whom they defeated in elections. For his part, Lula, who had bilateral meetings and visited Argentina, Uruguay and the United States, in addition to returning to CELAC, insisted on the importance of returning Brazil to international geopolitics and proposed a new global framework against climate change. “We must never again allow there to be a new chapter of the Capitol and that there never be what happened in Brazil, an invasion of Congress, Government House and the Supreme Court,” Lula said about the assault on the buildings of the three powers suffered by his government on January 8. one week after assuming the presidency. Lula also proposed a new “stronger global governance than the current one for the climate issue that makes decisions that countries are obliged to comply with” within the framework of measures to address climate change. Regarding the war in Ukraine, Da Silva proposed the creation of a group of negotiators to try to stop the war and a new world order so that rich countries can finance the countries of South America and Africa to preserve the environment and develop the poorest communities. With regard to climate change, Biden said he is willing for the United States to participate in the Amazon Fund, a Brazilian instrument of international grants of financing against deforestation and destruction in the South American rainforest. In addition, Biden and Da Silva took aim at their predecessors, Trump and Bolsonaro, for belittling international relations and spreading “fake news” as a way of doing politics. Brazil spent four years marginalizing itself, with a president who did not like to maintain relations with any country. His world began and ended with fake news, it was fake news morning, afternoon and night, he belittled international relations,” Lula said. At that point, Biden interrupted him and laughingly said, “It sounds familiar.” The dialogue took place in the Oval Office of the White House, in the traditional meeting before bilateral working meetings. 

Original source in Spanish