President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) said this Thursday (9) that his relationship with former President Donald Trump is something that is behind him.
The Brazilian is in Los Angeles for the Summit of the Americas and a bilateral meeting with Democrat Joe Biden – their first conversation since the American came to power – and was asked by journalists about his relationship with the Republican. Bolsonaro has always said he is a fan of Trump, revealed his support for his re-election in 2020 and has already echoed the fanciful speech that his defeat was due to fraud.
“I didn’t come here to talk about this matter. It’s in the past. You know I had an excellent relationship with President Trump. matter,” said Bolsonaro, as he left the hotel.
“We need to deepen our relationship. It will be eight years with President Biden.” The account takes into account Bolsonaro’s re-election in the Brazilian election, at the end of the year – the current president is in second place in the polls, which show chances of leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) winning in the first round. Biden’s current term runs until 2024, and Trump is tipped as a possible Republican candidate for the race.
Bolsonaro also said that he did not take any specific request to the Democrat, but that he hopes for a peaceful meeting. This Thursday (9), the US National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, told American journalists that Biden should ignore demands made by the Brazilian leader and speak about the environment and free elections at the bilateral meeting.
According to the advisor, the climate agenda will be “an important topic of conversation […]especially in tangible actions to protect the Amazon.” According to Sullivan, there will be no prohibited topics.
The message contradicts the agreement made by emissaries of the American president, who acted after Bolsonaro was reluctant to participate in the Summit of the Americas because he did not want to be pressured by the Democrat, with whom he has no political affinity. Brazilian diplomats stated that they maintained the expectation that Biden would avoid friction, with the meeting serving to advance agendas of Brazilian interest, such as the removal of barriers to steel imports.
The Democrat has been under pressure from activists and politicians in his party to hold Bolsonaro. 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.
This Thursday, the president said to journalists that the chances of finding Philips and Pereira “decrease every day”.
Bolsonaro, who will stay in Los Angeles until this Friday (10), when he leaves for Orlando, where he will have events on Saturday, also said that he is negotiating meetings with other leaders during the Summit of the Americas, but did not name which ones.
