What matters is friendship between peoples, not connections between politicians, says president of Portugal

After Jair Bolsonaro (PL) canceled, this Friday (1st), the meeting he would have with the president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the Portuguese leader said that “it is not worth wasting a second with a lunch when there is friendship between peoples” . “What matters is the friendship between peoples, not the connection between politicians.”

The Brazilian leader confirmed to CNN Brasil that the change of plans was due to an agenda that Rebelo will have on Sunday (3) with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), Bolsonaro’s opponent in the elections.

Despite the cancellation, the Portuguese president, who spoke to the press at Lisbon airport, minutes before boarding to celebrate the centenary of the first Portugal-Brazil transatlantic flight, kept the program in the country, where he will meet, in addition to PT, the also former -President Michel Temer.

“Whoever invites is who can decide whether or not to keep the lunch,” said Rebelo, who will also try to meet another former Brazilian leader, the toucan Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

As president, Rebelo is head of state in Portugal. The government command is exercised by the prime minister, the socialist António Costa. This is the second time that Rebelo has come to Brazil in less than a year – in July 2021, he participated in the reopening of the Museum of the Portuguese Language, in São Paulo.

Bolsonaro did not attend the event, but the Portuguese leader met with the president at Palácio da Alvorada, in Brasília. The head of the Planalto did not attend the reopening so as not to meet the then governor of São Paulo, João Doria (PSDB), a political opponent. “We invited the president, who unfortunately preferred to ride a motorcycle in Presidente Prudente”, said Doria at the time.

Despite Portugal maintaining important economic, social and cultural ties with Brazil, relations between the leaders of the two countries remained distant during the Bolsonaro administration. The Brazilian president, for example, has not visited Portugal during his term so far — unlike all leaders since redemocratization, with the exception of Itamar Franco.