Brazil’s Lula to meet Biden in Washington on Feb 10

BRAZILIAN President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will hold a meeting with his US counterpart Joe Biden in Washington on Feb 10, the South American country’s presidency told AFP on Thursday.

Left-wing former trade unionist Lula, who took office on Jan 1 for a third term as Brazilian president, will fly to Washington on Feb 9 for a two-day trip, his communications team said.

Lula has said he wants to improve relations with foreign governments that were strained under his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, such as those with the United States.

Bolsonaro waited 38 days to recognise Biden’s 2020 election victory over Donald Trump, a close ally of the former Brazilian leader – Bolsonaro was often branded the Tropical Trump.

Biden invited Lula to the White House on Jan 9, a day after thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed the seats of power in Brasilia.

It was an attack reminiscent of Trump’s supporters storming the Capitol in Washington two years earlier.

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“Democracy is the only way for us to build a strong nation,” Lula wrote on Twitter on Wednesday night.

“That is why I will talk to Biden to see how he manages” the far right.

“Everyone wants to talk to Brazil,” Lula had said earlier this week in an interview with the TV Globo channel.

Lula, 77, will begin his first international trip on Sunday by visiting neighbours Argentina and Uruguay.

He is also due to welcome German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Jan 30 to discuss how to deal with far-right extremism. AFP