The meeting that the national security adviser of the United States, Jake Sullivan, and the president-elect of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, held this Monday in the capital Brasilia lasted two hours. The meeting, which was much longer than initially planned, covered a wide range of topics, including Venezuela, the war in Ukraine, climate change… In addition, Sullivan carried an invitation from President Joe Biden , so that Lula could meet him visit Washington. The Brazilian is inclined, according to one of his closest advisers, to travel after his inauguration on January 1st, and not before as originally thought.
After meeting with the US envoy, Lula tweeted: “I am encouraged to speak with Biden and deepen the relationship between our countries”. The Democrat was one of the first foreign leaders to congratulate the left after his victory and they spoke on the phone the next day. Despite the interest shown on both sides, everything points to the trip to Washington probably already in 2023.
After attending the climate summit and Portugal, Brazil’s next president is immersed in intense two-way negotiations: with his coalition partners to design his Cabinet of Ministers and with Congress, to approve the funds with which to pay his great electoral promise, keep pay for the poorest.
Lula’s top foreign policy adviser, former Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, who was present at the meeting with White House envoys, then hinted that Lula’s agenda is too complicated in the nearly four weeks until start of his third term. “(Lula) appreciates the invitation, but maybe he doesn’t have (time) to be (in the US) before taking office. But he believes he can go right after the start of the year, already on an official visit as president,” Amorim said, according to G1.
In an international scenario marked by the growing confrontation between the United States and China, Brazil is seeking its place between the two. The Asian giant replaced the world’s first power as its first trading partner just over a decade ago.
Sullivan visits Brazil in the midst of the transfer of power between Lula’s teams and the defeated outgoing president, Jair Bolsonaro, who remains silent and with a minimal public agenda, which for now mainly includes military events. The national security adviser is accompanied on his trip to Brasilia by Biden’s special adviser for Latin America, Juan S. González. The Americans also allegedly met a senior Bolsonaro government official, the secretary for strategic affairs.
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According to the Brazilian team’s account, Lula and Sullivan discussed various issues but there were no concrete requests. They dealt with the situation in Venezuela, the war in Ukraine, climate change, Haiti, the situation of democracy…
The former Brazilian foreign minister said that for Americans “it is essential that there is an election in Venezuela that can be considered fair and that they will accept the winner”, reports Reuters. In the midst of the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, the United States has launched an operation to rebuild relations with the government of Nicolás Maduro. After a recent exchange of detainees, the US president authorized the oil company Chevron to operate in the South American country.
As for the war in Ukraine, Lula’s position is more ambiguous than Washington would like. The Brazilian, who has stirred up controversy by accusing Zelenskyj of being as responsible as Putin for the dispute, is in favor of favoring a diplomatic solution over any other possibility.
Brazil’s president-elect and national security adviser have been in favor of closer collaboration in the face of the climate emergency, but without speaking of concrete measures. And while Brazil has asked Washington for support in its eternal request to expand the Security Council with other members, Biden would like Lula to deploy a new operation in Haiti to stabilize the country and thus stop emigration to US territory.
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