President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) said he will not speak with his American counterpart, Joe Biden, about the extradition of Jair Bolsonaro (PL), who is in the United States, and that this decision depends on the Brazilian Justice. The statement was made in an interview with CNN International in Washington, this Friday (10), where Lula is meeting with Biden.
“One day he will have to return to Brazil and face the processes he faces. I will not talk to Biden about Bolsonaro’s extradition, that will depend on the courts, and I want him to be considered innocent until proven otherwise. , which did not happen to me,” said Lula. “I only talk to Biden about it if he talks about it.”
The former president is in the state of Florida, where he went before Lula’s inauguration ceremony. On the 30th, Bolsonaro asked for a tourist visa to stay longer in the United States, as his diplomatic visa was about to expire.
In Washington, Lula is expected to present to Biden the idea of the “peace club”, a group of countries that, in the Planalto’s view, are not directly involved in the conflict and, therefore, could negotiate peace between Russia and Ukraine. He defended the plan again during the interview, when asked if he was committed to democracy outside the country, as is said in relation to the Brazilian democratic system.
“I am committed to democracy. In the case of Ukraine and Russia, someone needs to be talking about peace. We need to talk to President Putin about the mistake that was the invasion [do território ucraniano], and we should speak for Ukraine to talk more. What I want to say to Biden is that it takes a group of countries for peace,” she said.
A senior US government official indicated, however, that the United States has many reservations about the idea. According to him, efforts for peace must recognize that there is a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine by Russia, following the criteria of the UN Charter.
Lula argues that one of the countries that could participate in dialogues to end the conflict is China, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom he said he had “boundless friendship” a few weeks before the start of the war. Beijing, however, avoids participating directly in the dispute.
How did it advance to Sheet on the 27th, President Lula denied Germany’s request and vetoed the shipment of ammunition from Leopard-1 tanks, operated by Brazil, to Ukraine, on the grounds that, if he sent them, he would be getting directly involved in the conflict.
“I didn’t mean to send [munição], because if I order it, I joined the war. And I don’t want to enter the war, I want to end the war”, said Lula, repeating the second sentence afterwards. “That is my dilemma and my commitment.”
The movement runs counter to the intensification of arms shipments to Ukraine that have been carried out by Kiev’s western allies. Recently, Americans and Europeans sent Leopard-2 and Leopard-1 tanks, in the case of the Germans, and M1 Abrams, in the case of Washington.
Lula has a confirmed trip to China in March, where Chinese leader Xi Jinping is due to meet, amid tensions between Washington and Beijing over the European conflict, the incidents of Chinese balloons considered spies by the Americans and the expansion of the military presence of the States United in the Indo-Pacific.
During the interview, the Brazilian president also spoke about Brazil’s commitments to reducing deforestation and plans to integrate federal government climate and environmental actions with states and municipalities.
After the meeting at the White House, the United States is expected to announce its intention to inject resources into the Amazon Fund, the main fundraising initiative for forest conservation and combating deforestation. It is currently managed by BNDES (National Development Bank) and funded by Norway and Germany, in addition to, to a lesser extent, by Petrobras.
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