Joe Biden and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva were erected this Friday as guardians of democratic values and defenders of the environment during a meeting in the White Housewith the long shadow of the far-right Jair Bolsonaro as background.
In a joint statement as leaders of the two largest democracies in AmericaUS President Biden and his Brazilian counterpart pledged “to work together to strengthen democratic institutions” and stated that they “continue to reject extremism and violence in politics.”
“Together we need to continue to defend the democratic values that are at the core of our strength, not just in our hemisphere, but around the world,” Biden said.
The US president reiterated “the unwavering support of the United States for democracy in Brazil and respect for the free will of the Brazilian people”, practically a month after thousands of Bolsonaristas attacked the buildings of the Presidency, Congress and the Supreme Court in Brasilia.
These events left behind scenes that recalled the assault on the Capitol by supporters of the former US Republican president donald trump to try to prevent Biden’s victory at the polls from being validated.
Bolsonaro traveled to the United States on the eve of Lula’s inauguration and is in Florida processing a new visa that would allow him to remain in the country, while Brazilian authorities investigate whether or not he instigated the January 8 assaults.
Lula thanked Biden for his support after the country “spent four years marginalizing itself” under a president, Bolsonaro, “who did not like to maintain relations with any country.”
“Their world began and ended with false news,” said Lula, who reminded his host that they have problems to solve. “Never again allow there to be a new chapter of the Capitol” nor assaults like those in Brasilia is one of them.
a green laboratory
In addition, we must “work together in the fight against inequality, the racial issue” and the climate crisis, he added.
“In recent years, the Amazon has been invaded by political irrationality” but the current leftist government “is going to make a great effort to transform the Amazon not into a sanctuary for humanity, but into a research center shared with the world whole”.
Brazil and the United States are on the same page in the face of global challenges, “especially the climate crisis,” agreed Biden, who announced “his intention to work with Congress to provide funds for programs to protect and conserve the Brazilian Amazon, including initial support for the Amazon Fund”.
This fund is a multilateral financial mechanism managed by Brazil for the fight against deforestation.
Lula promised to end deforestation in the Amazon by 2030. Suddenly, in January it fell 61% compared to the same period in 2022, according to official data published this Friday.
The Brazilian leader warned that his country “will take the issue of climate very seriously” because “a 300-year-old tree has no owner, no one can knock it down”, it is “world heritage, it is there to guarantee the subsistence of the planet”.
In an open letter, indigenous groups and environmentalists asked both leaders not to forget human rights and “environmental racism” in this fight.
war in ukraine
But the good harmony was diluted when it came to the war in Ukraine.
Biden is leading Western efforts to back Kiev, convinced that it must be given diplomatic aid, weapons and military training to fight Russia, which has invaded its territory.
On the contrary, Brazil, together with other emerging countries such as India or South Africa, and some Latin American countries such as Argentina, Colombia or Mexico, is reluctant to send weapons to the country.
Lula told Biden that a group of countries that “are not directly or indirectly involved” in the conflict must be created in order to find a way out “to put an end to this war.” “You have to stop shooting if not, there is no solution.”
He already discussed it with the French president Emmanuel Macron and with the German chancellor Olaf Schölz and will address it in March with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
In the final joint communiqué the issue is mentioned in a concise sentence: both “deplore the violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine by Russia and the annexation of parts of their territory as flagrant violations of international law and call for a just and lasting peace.”
It also evokes one of Lula’s recurring international themes: the reform of the UN for Brazil to have a permanent seat on the Security Council. Both “express their intention to work together” on it, but without details.
Before going to the White House, Lula met with Democratic congressmen and the AFL-CIO, the main union confederation in the United States.
On Saturday he will return to Brazil, a country, according to him, that has no disputes with anyone”, where “people like peace, democracy, work, carnival, samba and lots of joy”.
