Bolsonaro, silent after election loss, skips G20

BRASILIA: Brazil’s outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro will not take part in the G20 summit in Indonesia, the foreign ministry said, without explaining his unusual absence from the meeting.

Aside from a brief speech two days after his election loss to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva last month, Bolsonaro disappeared from public view, and is silent on social media.

The Brazilian delegation to the meeting of the world’s 20 most developed nations “is being led by Foreign Minister Carlos Franca,” the ministry said.

With Bolsonaro out of sight and keeping mum, all eyes are on Lula as he prepares his transition to a third term as president of the Latin American giant.

Lula was on Monday travelling to Egypt for the COP27 global climate summit, under the expectation that Brazil will signal a turnaround in the protection of the Amazon.

The rainforest has experienced rampant deforestation under Bolsonaro, who prioritised what he saw as economic development through mining and agriculture.

Bolsonaro’s handling of the Amazon’s destruction contributed largely to Brazil’s international isolation.

Another leader who is shunning the G20 meeting is Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who is isolated due to the war he is pursuing in Ukraine. — AFP