Biden and Lula agree to fight for climate change and the defense of democracy after meeting at the White House

US President Joe Biden and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, met this Friday at the White House to agree on an agenda with issues of common interest such as climate change and the defense of democracy.

“The solid democracies of both countries have been put to the test,” Biden said at the beginning of the meeting, according to The Associated Press news agency.

“

, affirmed the president.

Both leaders discussed the threats to democracy in their countries after followers of former President Jair Bolsonaro violently assaulted Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace in Brasilia this January, as did fans of former President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021. at the Capitol in Washington DC in rejection of the results of the electoral elections in which both leaders lost.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his counterpart, Joe Biden, walk to the Oval Office of the White House, this Friday, February 10. Sarah Silbiger / AP

The meeting lasted about 50 minutes, despite the fact that it had been expected to last only 15, and the sympathy between the leaders was noted at the meeting, the EFE news agencies indicated.

These are some of the topics discussed at the meeting:

They talk about Bolsonaro without mentioning him

"His world began and ended with false news," Lula said, referring to Bolsonaro.

Biden, for his part, responded by saying that this scenario “sounded familiar” in reference to Trump.

Both former presidents shared similarities in their way of governing, including their relationship with science and handling of the coronavirus pandemic, so much so that Bolsonaro came to consider himself a tropicalized version of Trump.

"Brazil was marginalized for four years," Lula said, and both leaders insisted that relations between the two countries would resume their course.

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“We have to continue to defend democracy and our democratic values, which are at the core of our strength,” Biden insisted.

None referred directly to Bolsonaro, who has been in Florida since last December when he left Brazil after losing the elections.

The former president is being investigated in his country for the violence of his supporters against government buildings this January.

The former president requested a tourist visa to extend his stay in the country.

After the violent attack by his supporters, a group of Democratic lawmakers asked Biden to revoke Bolsonaro's visa.

“The United States must not provide refuge to him (Bolsonaro), or to any authoritarian who has inspired such violence against democratic institutions,” they wrote in a letter.

The preservation and defense of the Amazon

One of Biden's electoral promises was the creation of a $20 billion fund for Brazil and the preservation of its natural resources.

It was hoped that after the meeting the United States would be willing to invest in the Amazon Fund, the most important international cooperation effort to preserve the Amazon rainforest.

The initiative, which seeks to prevent, monitor, combat deforestation and promote sustainability, was financed by countries like Germany and Norway, but after Bolsonaro argued in 2019 that the Amazon was an internal matter and was criticized for deforestation, donors froze your contributions.

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After the meeting between Lula and Biden, the United States promised to support the creation of a fund to protect the Amazon rainforest and the US president agreed to travel to Brazil, the South American country reported in a joint statement.

[A fisherman confesses to having killed the journalist and the indigenista who disappeared in the Amazon]

Lula clarified that they did not speak specifically about the Amazon Fund, but assured that he "believes" that Washington will join the initiative, according to the EFE news agency.

The leaders also discussed the importance of promoting clean energy and the fight against climate change.