The United States this Sunday condemned any attempt to “undermine democracy in Brazil” and firmly supported Lula da Silva and Brazilian institutions in the face of the assault suffered by Congress, Planalto and the Supreme Court by demonstrators of the former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is now in Florida.
Through its main diplomatic swords, the government of Joe Biden immediately came out to condemn these actions which immediately aroused in the United States the vivid memory of the events of January 6, 2021, when a crowd of supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol and tried to stop Biden’s candidacy for the White House by denouncing electoral fraud never tried.
In that episode, 5 people died and hundreds were injured. Two years after that fact, there are 900 defendants and a parliamentary commission established it Trump was guilty of instigating an insurrection and obstruct justice.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken tweeted: “We condemn the attack on the Brazilian Presidency, Congress and the Supreme Court today. Using violence to attack democratic institutions is always unacceptable. We join @lulaoficial in urging an immediate cessation of these actions.”
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan joined in: “The United States condemns any attempt to undermine democracy in Brazil. President Biden is following the situation very closely and our support for Brazil’s democratic institutions is unwavering. Democracy in Brazil will not be altered by violence.”
The grave news from Brasilia surprised Biden at the border with Mexico, where he is trying to stop the migration crisis, and shortly before a meeting with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Bolsonaro, Florida
Meanwhile, Biden suffers the awkward situation of having Bolsonaro in Orlando, Florida, the same state where his friend Trump resides, where he settled before his term expired. The Brazilian kept a low profile and was seen eating fried chicken and shopping at a supermarket.
From the very moment Lula won the presidency, Biden has not hesitated to openly support him.
The Democrat had informal relations with Bolsonaro, a great admirer of Trump and always on the edge of respect for the institutions. Indeed, Bolsonaro had avoided hailing Biden for his victory -which Trump never acknowledged- even though they later met face-to-face at the Summit of the Americas.
As soon as Lula won, and fearing that Bolsonaro would not recognize his rival’s victory, Biden immediately called the PT leader by telephone to congratulate him and show his support. In addition, he sent two of his closest advisers, Jake Sullivan and Juan González (the special adviser for Latin America) to Brazil in mid-December to begin setting in motion a future partnership between Washington and Brasilia.
Lula went on to say that he had already received an invitation to visit Biden at the White House, which is quite unusual for a president-elect while, say, President Alberto Fernández is still waiting for his Covid-canceled visit by Biden in July to be rescheduled.
The US has clarified the relevance that the relationship with Lula has for Biden. “This is very important to the president,” the White House spokeswoman said.
Biden is trying to put behind the deep differences he had with Bolsonaro on some key issues of his administration such as the fight against climate change, deforestation in the Amazon and food security.
Even if he may have differences on issues such as the relationship with Venezuela, Cuba, China or Russia, from here Lula is seen as a leader with whom to dialogue, beyond the fact that he is the great economic power of Latin America.
One of the difficulties that the link between the Biden government and Latin America has encountered has been the absence of a strong and clear leadership that allows bridges to be built between the different regional governments, which have very different signs.
At the time, the government of Alberto Fernández aimed to fill this gap but, despite having established a cordial relationship with the Biden government, due to internal quarrels and some friction on issues such as Russia and Venezuela he failed to fill the role that the White House is now seeking with Lula.
Washington correspondent
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Source: Clarin
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.