Biden, Lula focus on democracy and climate in meeting
WASHINGTON » President Joe Biden and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met at the White House on Friday and reflected on how their nations were tested in their respective battles to preserve democracy, with the U.S. president declaring that democracy ultimately “prevailed” over the farright mobs that stormed their governments' halls of power in an attempt to overturn election victories.
Biden defeated incumbent Donald Trump in a fraught 2020 race, securing victory with thin margins in several battleground states. In Brazil's recent election, its tightest since its return to democracy over three decades ago, Lula, the leftist leader of the Workers' Party, squeaked out a win against right-wing incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, who earned the nickname “Trump of the Tropics” and was an outspoken admirer of the former U.S. president.
Both Trump and Bolsonaro sowed doubts about the vote, without presenting evidence, but their claims nevertheless resonated with their most diehard supporters. In the U.S. Capitol, Trump supporters staged the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection seeking to prevent Biden's win from being certified. Last month, thousands of rioters stormed the Brazilian capital aiming to oust the newly-inaugurated Lula.
“Both our nations' strong democracies have been tested of late ... very much tested,” Biden said at the start of their Oval Office meeting. “But both in the United States and Brazil, democracy prevailed.”
Lula said that he was moving to restore Brazil on the world stage after Bolsonaro's term.
“Brazil marginalized itself for four years,” Lula said. “His world started and ended with fake news.”
Biden joked that Lula's complaint “sounds familiar” — an apparent knock on Trump.
Earlier Friday, Lula told CNN that Brazil does not have a “culture of hate,” but certainly a sharp divide similar to that in the United States.
“Here there's also a split that's much more, or as serious, as in Brazil — Democrats and Republicans are very divided,” Lula said.
Both Biden and Lula sought to spotlight that Brazil's democracy remains resilient and that relations between the Americas' two biggest democracies are back on track.
The leaders also planned to discuss Russia's invasion of Ukraine, insecurity in Haiti, migration and climate change, including efforts to stem deforestation of the Amazon, according to the White House.