A group of six blonde women, over 60 years of age, awaited the arrival of President Jair Bolsonaro to Los Angeles, where he will participate in the Summit of the Americas. On the corner of the hotel where the Brazilian leader will stay, they chanted “myth” and “Bolsonaro, where are you? I came here just to see you.”
They belong to a group called Bolsonaro – Powerful Grandmothers of Las Vegas, made up of 12 members. Half couldn’t make it, but the rest drove to California just to see the president.
The collective was created at the time of the 2018 election and carried out several acts in favor of the then candidate, says Suzana Fortes, 66, one of the members of the group and for 35 years in the US. “We pray every day that the president can handle his challenges. We are very rooting for him.”
The retiree said she hoped to see the president in person for the first time. She got it. Bolsonaro landed in Los Angeles at 8:30 am local time (12:30 pm in BrasÃlia). As he got off the plane, he greeted Brazil’s ambassador to the US, Nestor Forster, and other officials. Then, at 9:20 am, upon arriving at the hotel, he addressed the group and greeted the women – he left the place without speaking to the press.
Amid the emotion, they forgot to take a picture with the president. “I shook my captain’s hand. It’s a lot of emotion,” said Suzana. “His attitudes, his honesty… I admire his personality a lot. Things are going to work out in Brazil, but one term alone is not enough,” said Estela Cajueiro, 72. She says, without presenting evidence, that reelection is guaranteed and that polls are a fraud.
The Brazilian leader traveled to participate in the Summit of the Americas, the main meeting of heads of state on the continent. On the sidelines of the event, he will have his first bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden.
The Brazilian delegation includes Arthur Lira (PP-AL), president of the Chamber of Deputies, ministers Carlos França (Foreign Affairs), Anderson Torres (Justice), Marcelo Queiroga (Health) and Joaquim Leite (Environment), in addition to the first lady, Michelle Bolsonaro. Fábio Faria, holder of the Communications portfolio, would also come, but withdrew after showing symptoms of Covid-19.
Biden agreed to meet with Bolsonaro as a way of convincing him to participate in the summit, an event shaken by the weightlessness of Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. In all, eight heads of state from the continent decided to boycott the meeting, in response to the decision of the White House not to invite the governments of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, considered dictatorships by Washington.
The conversation between the two presidents, scheduled for 3:30 pm (7:30 pm in BrasÃlia), should address topics such as protecting the Amazon and holding fair and transparent elections, subjects that the Brazilian leader wanted to avoid. He even vetoed matters as a condition of traveling to the US.
On the eve of the meeting, however, Jake Sullivan, US National Security Adviser, said that the meeting will not have prohibited topics and that the climate agenda will be “an important topic of conversation” to advance “in the relationship between Brazil and the US, especially into tangible actions to protect the Amazon”. In addition, the topic of “free, transparent and democratic elections” should also be addressed.
At the official opening of the Summit of the Americas on Wednesday, Biden stressed the importance of defending democracy and human rights. “At a time when democracy is under attack around the world, let us come together again and renew our conviction that democracy is not just the defining factor of American history, it is an essential ingredient of the future of the Americas,” said the democrat.
On the Brazilian side, there is an expectation that the meeting will serve to advance some agendas of Brazilian interest, such as the removal of barriers to steel imports. Likewise, there would be advances in American priorities, such as strengthening the fight against human trafficking and illegal immigration networks.
The Democrat, however, has been under pressure from activists and politicians in his party to hold Bolsonaro accountable. The lawsuit gained strength after the disappearance of the English journalist Dom Philips and the indigenist Bruno Araújo Pereira while they were producing a report in the Amazon. The Bolsonaro government reduced inspection instruments and was accused of rigging bodies such as Ibama and Funai, which, according to opponents, worsened security conditions in the region.
On Thursday night, Biden will host a dinner for foreign leaders who came to the summit. Bolsonaro is due to speak at one of the plenary sessions on Friday (10). The Brazilian president stays in Los Angeles until Friday. He then travels to Orlando, where he will inaugurate a vice-consulate of Brazil in the city.
