Monitoring Desk
WASHINGTON: The United States (US) President Joe Biden and Brazil’s new president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, on Friday held a crucial meeting to discuss global climate change and issues and democracy in Brazil.
Biden and Lula have a lot in common these days. “Both the US and Brazil democracies have been tested of late,” said Joe Biden during a sit-down in the Oval Office.
Over a month ago, several extremists stormed Brazil’s capital. Supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro attacked the Congress, the presidential offices, and Supreme Court.
The comparison with the attack by former US President Donald Trump supporters on January 6 is often made. Both Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, close allies, continue to spread false claims of election fraud.
Friday’s afternoon meeting between Biden and Lula was a quick one meant to reset the US-Brazil ties.
“The United States (US) and the rest of the world can count on Brazil in the fight for the preservation of the Amazon rainforest and democracy,” Lula told Biden through an interpreter.
This is the second time Joe Biden and Lula have met in person. Lula told Joe Biden that Brazil had been in self-imposed isolation under Bolsonaro, who he said lived “fake news in the morning, afternoon and night,” referring to his predecessor. Biden chuckled and added, “sounds familiar,” apparently referring to his predecessor.
Former President Bolsonaro is currently in the Florida state of the US. He came to the United States just before Lula’s New Year’s Day inauguration. Lula has said he is not planning to bring up the former president’s stay in the US.
President Biden supports Lula to deal with extremists
President Biden has shown his support for Brazil’s Lula as he deals with Bolsonaro and extremist supporters. Relations between the US and Brazil had been strained over the previous two years of Jair Bolsonaro’s far-right administration.
The visit is a significant “milestone” in restarting US-Brazil relations, says Thiago de Aragāo, a political risk consultant in Washington and Brasilia. A photo with Joe Biden in the White House is what Lula is looking for at this early point in his administration, says Aragão, especially regarding his role in tackling climate change issue. “Biden will legitimize Lula as the most crucial opinion makers among world leaders in the environmental agenda,” Aragão said.
Earlier in the day, Lula met Democratic leaders, including Senator Bernie Sanders, where they discussed how to increase international cooperation to protect the Amazon forests and preserve the environment for future generations. Lula also had talks with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has been a staunch voice against the US granting refuge to Bolsonaro.
Lula has promised to reverse Bolsonaro’s devastating environmental record, in which much of Brazil’s deforestation enforcement was dismantled. Lula has launched a major operation to rid the country’s largest indigenous reserve of illegal miners.
Hundreds of federal agents have been sent to the Yanomami reserve in the northern Amazon to uproot the illegal operations that have polluted the local land and rivers.
Biden had announced to create a global fund for Amazon protection. Lula wants the US to contribute to the existing Amazon Fund, which he restarted after its demise under Bolsonaro. The $1.3 billion fund is supported mainly by Norway and Germany and provides money for deforestation prevention and sustainable development projects in the rainforest.
