No More Parts Of Brazil: Lula Says

In an exclusive interview with CNN on Friday before his meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva claimed that the political tensions in his nation were not any worse than those in the United States.

“Democrats and Republicans are tremendously divided here, and it’s far worse than it is in Brazil. He stated to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in Washington that “love it or leave it, that’s more or less what’s going on” and added that Brazil does not have “a hatred culture.”

Following their presidential victories, far-right extremists ransacked government facilities for both Lula and Biden, putting their respective democracies to the test.

Regarding the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot in the US, he commented, “Never could we believe that in a country that was the emblem of democracy in the world – someone might try to invade the Capitol.”

The tight relations between former President Jair Bolsonaro and former US President Donald Trump are among the parallels between the attack on Brasilia on January 8 and the uprising in the US.

Bolsonaro, according to Lula, is a “faithful copycat of Trump,” and both “don’t enjoy trade unions… They dislike both workers and women. They disapprove of Black people.

Throughout their administrations, both ex-leaders came under fire for employing sexist and racist words.

Lula isn’t certain that all of Bolsonaro’s supporters share his ideologies, though. He stated, “I am confident that not all Bolsonaro supporters subscribe to Bolsonarism.

Bolsonaro left for America after his electoral defeat. Since he has been residing close to Orlando, Florida, for more than a month, some Democratic Party legislators have demanded that he leave the nation.

Will Lula want assistance from Biden in bringing Bolsonaro back to Brazil? I don’t know; I’m not going to discuss it with President Biden; the courts will decide on that, he said. “He needs to return to Brazil one day and face all the lawsuits brought against him.”

According to Lula, there are “almost 12 lawsuits against him in Brazil, and more cases will come in,” and that Bolsonaro will “be found guilty in some international court because of the genocide with Covid (outbreak) because half of the people that died in Brazil during Covid was the responsibility of the federal government,” according to the former president.

Additionally, he said that Bolsonaro might face legal “punishment” for “the genocide against the Yanomami indigenous people” because of the rise in illicit mining in their legally protected zone under his administration.

The Yanomami people, who have witnessed sickness and starvation ravage their community in the previous four years, have been the target of the Bolsonaro government’s efforts. Brazil’s Supreme Court has ordered an investigation to establish whether these measures constituted “genocide.”

On his official Telegram channels, Bolsonaro has previously branded this charge a “left-wing hoax.”

On Friday, Lula and Biden are expected to discuss combatting anti-democratic radicalism and combating climate change.

While Lula is confident that “democracy will prevail” in Brazil, he is concerned about the global emergence of radical right-wing organisations.

They are in Hungary and Germany, as well as Brazil, Spain, and France. If we’re not careful, this extreme right mindset will develop into a Nazi one since there is an organised extreme right in the world. We’ve never seen a denial attitude like this, he said.

He acknowledges that there is considerable work to be done in Brazil to address climate change, stating that as part of the nation’s pledge to “lower greenhouse emissions” by 39%, local “mayors and governors, who ensure no more burning of the forests,” must be rewarded.

Biden intends to forge stronger ties and show his support for one of the major players in the Western Hemisphere by inviting Lula to the White House ahead of schedule.

After Lula’s triumph in the late part of last year, Biden swiftly contacted him in an effort to show his support after Bolsonaro had set the stage for him to contest the results. The action was positively greeted by Lula’s staff, who took it as an indication that Biden wanted to improve US-Brazil relations.

They have already met; Lula and Biden chatted on the sidelines of an event in Chile when Biden was vice president. However, they will want to strengthen what has historically been a significant bilateral relationship in the Western Hemisphere, which has recently been damaged by the radically opposite Biden and Bolsonaro.

Despite the fact that they share a lot of similarities, Lula, like many other leaders in poor and middle-income nations, has chosen not to intervene in the conflict in Ukraine.

He has rejected efforts made by Biden to rally the entire world against Russia’s invasion.

Speaking to CNN, Lula asserted that “the invasion was a mistake on the part of Russia” and that Ukraine has the right to self-defense.

Because “I don’t want to go join the fight,” he said, he refused to give Ukraine firearms. The battle must come to an end.

Asserting himself as a world leader capable of mediating a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine, Lula told CNN that he had already started this “job” by meeting with the German Chancellor during his January visit to Brazil.

“I want to discuss peace with (President of Russia Vladimir) Putin. President Biden and (Chinese leader) Xi Jinping are two people with whom I would like to discuss world peace. I want to discuss peace with Indonesia and India because, in his opinion, the globe can only advance peacefully.

Age is also another similarity between Lula and Biden. Both of them are senior citizens: Biden is 80 and Lula is 77.

Lula said when questioned about it that ageing only affects people who don’t have a purpose to fight for.

He declared, “I am 77 years old, but I have the strength and vitality of a 30-year-old.” “I don’t sleep because I have to better the lives of my people in Brazil, who are my home.”