Brazil: Lula prioritizes foreign policy but so far has reaped failures

By Tiago Mali

The Brazilian President has given extreme importance to foreign policy.

This week, the newspaper “O Globo” recalled that Lula has already met with 30 foreign leaders (until last Sunday; on Tuesday, the count already went up).

The President received only nine members of Congress from allied parties in the same period.

Maybe, as Thomas Traumann has already written, in his third mandate, the Brazilian dreams of being the new Nelson Mandela and receiving the Nobel Peace Prize: the political leader who goes to jail, is released, and returns to power triumphantly.

The fact is that, so far, Lula’s incursions abroad have had limited (not to say failed) results.

Not to mention the ambiguity of the Brazilian, who even said that Ukraine could cede some territory to Russia to end the war.

Here are some highlights of Lula’s foreign policy onslaughts:

Argentina

On a visit to the neighboring country, Lula promised to finance a pipeline to transport shale gas—cost: R$3.5 billion.

Shale gas is more polluting than pre-salt natural gas (and there is a lack of pipelines in Brazil).

Marina Silva (Environment) said she didn’t know what Lula was saying in Buenos Aires at the time.

United States

In a visit that left empty-handed (in concrete terms), the Brazilian spoke with US President Joe Biden.

He made a vague proposal about ending the war in Ukraine. He criticized Jair Bolsonaro.

And he proposed new world governance for the climate.

China

During his days in China, he adopted the pragmatic stance of not criticizing human rights violations and problems in the country’s democracy.

He said that Brazil “shares many points of view” with China.

He repeated the vague peace proposal for war in Ukraine. He signed bilateral agreements that are supposed to bring US$50 billion of investments to Brazil (these promises are unverifiable and rarely kept, as recent history shows).

The President visited the Chinese technology company Huawei (banned in the United States) and said he wanted to demonstrate that he had no prejudice “against the Chinese people”.

It was a message against the US.

United Arab Emirates

The President gave an interview on his 1-day stay in that country.

His most striking statement contained a historical error (after having said days before in Brazil that Ukraine should cede territory to Russia).

“The decision for war was made by two countries [Russia and Ukraine]”.

Despite being a complex situation, one fact is undeniable: Russia, not Ukraine, started the war conflict.

Portugal and Spain

On the visit to the 2 Iberian countries, Lula witnessed street acts against his presence and even protests from some deputies inside the Portuguese Parliament.

“Those who do politics are used to that,” he said.

The Brazilian condemned Russia’s “violation” of Ukraine’s territory but also gave statements favorable to Russia and quite the opposite.

The countries of that continent have not considered such peace proposals for the war in Europe.

G7 in Japan

The proposal to create a peace group to solve the conflict between Russia and Ukraine had another setback.

In the international leaders’ room, the representatives of several countries made rounds next to Joe Biden (US) and Volodymyr Zelensky (Ukraine).

Lula was left alone, scribbling on some papers. The international media paid little or no attention to the Brazilian.

Lula then arranged a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, who did not attend.

Lula said: “I was upset because I wanted to meet him.

The Ukrainian was informed of the Brazilian’s statement and replied: “I think he [Lula] was disappointed.”

Latin American Countries in Brasilia

Suddenly, Lula announced a meeting with colleagues from South America.

The quorum was large. The result, not so much.

The fact that the 12 South American countries agreed to meet again after nine years is historic.

Lula talked about creating a common currency for the Latin continent with the help of the BRICS.

Although there are differences between creating a currency for commercial exchanges and a single currency to be adopted in all countries, both are not simple.

The European Union took decades to reach an agreement creating the euro.

The members had to establish unified fiscal rules, build a common functional parliament, and their central banks gave up the possibility of being the custodians of each country’s currency. It is not easy.

As Mao Zedong would say, it may even be the first step on a long road.

But can anyone imagine a unified Argentine peso, Chinese yuan, and Brazilian real in the short term?

Or even an exchange currency in which they can all reach an agreement?

Lula also decided to receive the autocratic President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, with the honors of a head of state.

He said that the problems in the country’s democracy are a matter of narrative.

The Brazilian President was criticized for this statement by Uruguay’s President, Lacalle Pou, from the right, and Chile’s President, Gabriel Boric, from the left.

At the end of the meeting, he tried to justify the phrase.

“I said, in fact, that since Chavez took office, a narrative has been built against Chavez in which he is a demon; from there, he starts to throw everyone against him.”

“It was like that with me, the amount of lies in my lawsuits. A narrative selling a lie that later nobody could prove,” Lula said.

The damage, however, was already done.

Lula’s forays into foreign policy certainly give him great visibility in the media.

The Brazilian has photos with foreign leaders to show for it. In less than five months in the Planalto, he has already met with more international authorities than Jair Bolsonaro had in his four years in office.

But this preference for the external proscenium has not been enough for Lula to succeed with his proposals for other countries. And on the inside, here in Brazil, political articulation is weak.

The economy is showing signs of wear and tear.

This Tuesday (30), it was released that the federal government’s revenue was R$203.95 billion in April 2023.

A real drop of 1.5% compared to the same period in 2022.

Also released was the primary surplus for April, which was R$15.6 billion – lower than the R$29 billion for the same month last year.

For five months of government, it is possible to say with no chance of error that Lula may have done less than he wanted.

And as the tradition of Brazilian politics shows, the honeymoon of new presidents ends around the first semester.

The PT seems to be letting slip his golden chance to make a mark right from the start in the Planalto.

With information from Poder360

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