Lula’s bet, foreign policy accumulates errors and flawed strategies

In five months of government, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) has already met with 31 heads of state in person and five by videoconference. The PT has also already sent the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira, and the special advisor in the area, Celso Amorim, to fulfill an agenda in other countries. This agenda, however, has not had the desired effect.

The president has vehemently repeated that “Brazil has returned” to the international scene. But, at the same time that the country gains prominence on the international scene, the failures that Lula commits when commenting on relevant issues also gain prominence.

The relativization in relation to the invasion made by Russia to Ukraine, and the statements about the dictator Nicolás Maduro, from Venezuela, are two examples.

On several occasions, Lula said that “the decision to go to war was taken by two countries”. The conflict, however, began after Russia invaded the capital of Ukraine, in February 2022. The Brazilian’s allegations had negative repercussions around the world and generated criticism of the PT – even more so after the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, came to the country. Lula even suggested that Ukraine should cede Crimea to Russia in order to end the conflict.

“Ukraine does not need to be convinced of anything. The war is fought on Ukrainian soil and causes unspeakable suffering and destruction. More than anyone else in the world, we strive to put an end to Russian aggression based on the Formula of Peace proposed by President Zelensky”, wrote spokesman for Ukraine’s diplomacy, Oleg Nikolenko, after the PT’s statements about the war.

The Brazilian president also said that countries like the United States and those that make up the European Union encourage war. At the time, the White House ruled on the PT’s speeches and condemned the statements. In an official statement, the body said Brazil was “reproducing Russian and Chinese propaganda” and that the president’s comments were “misguided”.

Lula’s pro-Russia moves caused discomfort around the world and also for Ukraine, which has been suffering daily from Russian military power. After suffering severe criticism of his speeches, the Brazilian government sought to invest in the opposite direction and raise the flag of neutrality with regard to the conflict.

In the midst of these controversies, Celso Amorim was sent to Russia and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. After the visit of the Brazilian delegation to the invading country, Nikolenko, through a post on social networks, invited Lula to go to Ukraine to understand “the real causes, the essence of Russian aggression and its consequences for global security”.

It was then that the president sent Amorim to the country. In Ukraine, the Brazilian envoy met with Volodymyr Zelensky with the aim of rebuilding Brazil’s image of “neutrality” and softening the situation created by Lula’s statements.

In an interview with Folha de S.Paulo after returning from Kyiv, Amorim said that his visit to Ukraine was “very smooth” and that “the dialogue was positive, confidence-building, aimed at explaining our objectives for peace”. Despite the presence of the Brazilian special advisor in the country, the Ukrainian president expressed the desire to receive Lula, but, so far, the PT has never indicated that he will go to the country.

At G7, Lula avoids meeting with Zelensky

After becoming involved in controversies involving Russia and Ukraine, the government began to bet on the G7 (group of the seven most industrialized countries in the world), which took place in May, to establish a positive agenda for the Brazilian government. After 14 years, Brazil was once again invited to participate in the summit, which aims to discuss issues relevant to the world and define strategies and propose solutions to global problems.

Called to participate as a guest, the PT member participated in meetings to discuss the preservation of forests, the climate and the fight against hunger. At the event, Lula still had another objective: the formation of a peace club to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine.

During the summit, the president held bilateral meetings with presidents from different parts of the world, such as Emmanuel Macron, from France, and Olaf Scholz, Prime Minister of Germany. At the last minute, Volodymyr Zelensky, from Ukraine, confirmed that he would join the summit and asked to meet with Lula. To the press, the Brazilian said that he no longer had a schedule to meet the Ukrainian leader, but that he had reserved a moment for the meeting and Zelensky did not show up. The disagreement between the two presidents raised the hypothesis about Lula’s “disinterest” in listening to what the president of Ukraine has to say.

At a press conference, Zelensky was asked if he had been disappointed at not having met the Brazilian leader and said that the disappointment would actually be the PT’s. “I met with almost all the leaders. But everyone has their own calendar, which is why I think we couldn’t meet with the Brazilian president,” said the Ukrainian leader.

At the meeting, the countries discussed and decided to impose new sanctions on Russia, as a way of putting pressure on it to put an end to the war – a topic that once again left Lula in an uncomfortable situation. The petista does not believe that unilateral sanctions are effective in ending the conflict.

“These measures, in addition to not having the endorsement of the United Nations [ONU]they have negative impacts on economies around the world, especially in developing countries,” said the Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira, after meeting with Lavrov.

rapprochement with China

At the end of April, president Lula also made a trip to Asia, where he visited the United Arab Emirates and China. Brazil’s major trading partner, the Chinese government is accused of taking political prisoners, violating human rights and making laws that do not allow freedom of expression.

In the country, Lula met with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, who has been in office since 2013, and turned a “blind eye” to the crimes committed by the country’s government. “All countries in the world have problems. China found a way to solve its problems, and a way that allowed China to soon, soon become the first economy in the world”, said Lula when asked about the crimes committed by the Chinese government.

The trip to the country also drew attention for its extravagance. In a delegation of around 73 people, it is estimated that the trip cost at least R$ 6.6 million. In addition to the expenses, the members of the entourage intrigued the opposition bench, since among those who traveled with Lula to China were the leader of the Landless Movement (MST), João Pedro Stédile, and the president of the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT ), Sergio Nobre.

The senator and leader of the opposition, Rogério Marinho (PL-RN), criticized these guests of Lula during his speech in the plenary in April. According to the parliamentarian, Stédile’s presence on the trip was to declare that the MST would invade private properties during his absence.

“Made [uma invasão] today on a farm in Pernambuco that is a research center for Embrapa, the world’s largest company in technological innovation, which puts us at the forefront of agriculture in the world, as they also invaded private properties, Incra headquarters, this under the complacency of the authorities authorities of the Ministry of Justice, which sees a citizen like that announce the crime, perpetrate the crime and not be prevented”, he said.

During Lula’s presence in China, the newspaper The Washington Post, from the United States, also criticized the rapprochement between the two countries, in addition to refuting Lula’s statements about the United States encouraging the conflict on Ukrainian soil. In an article, the newspaper criticized the PT’s foreign policy and said that “although he was expected to be a partner for the West after winning the elections”, he seems to have “his own plans”.

Nods to Venezuela’s dictator

Since assuming his third term, Lula has reaffirmed his interest in reestablishing contacts with South America. In this sense, the president held a meeting with the South American presidents this week, in Brasília. The meeting took place at the Itamaraty Palace and brought together representatives of 11 of the 12 countries in the region.

But Lula erred in the bets he made for the meeting. On Sunday, two days before the meeting, the PT party received the Venezuelan dictator, Nicolás Maduro, with whom he held several bilateral meetings. The meeting and the way Maduro was received by the Brazilian government – with head of state honors – caused discomfort among presidents of other countries and also at the base of the government.

After bilateral meetings with Maduro, the Brazilian president claimed that Venezuela was “the victim of a narrative of anti-democracy and authoritarianism”. At the summit, Lula had the intention of returning to the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) and reintegrating the Venezuelan country into dialogue and cooperation with the countries that form the continent.

Lula’s speeches were reprimanded by the presidents of Uruguay, Chile and Argentina, who criticized the Brazilian’s position in relation to the crimes for which Maduro is accused by the UN International Court.

In a video posted on his Instagram and quickly deleted, Uruguayan President Lacalle Pou said he was “surprised” to hear that the Venezuelan government is a “narrative”.

Left-wing Chilean President Gabriel Boric also criticized and retorted Lula’s statements: “It is not a question of narrative as President Lula said yesterday. It’s reality and it’s a human rights issue,” Boric said. “It is not a question of narrative as President Lula said yesterday. It is the reality and it is a human rights issue,” he said.

Even the Argentine president, Alberto Fenández, who has been defended by Lula, skewered the Brazilian and the Venezuelan dictator. “The construction of democracy, of human rights in Latin America, is a fight that has cost many people their lives, and we cannot lose that”, he said in audio leaked to the press.

Despite the mistakes made by Lula in the search for a foreign policy of “resumption”, the Brazilian government says it is optimistic about the movements of recent days. A People’s Gazette, a member of Lula’s entourage revealed that the president has seen the movements of recent days with optimism and that he will not let the criticism he received, even from supporters, prevent the advancement of other discussions. “There are matters in which [os países] they do not agree and even so manage to advance in other agendas. I think Brazil will continue to pursue this,” he said.

international agenda

For the coming months, the president plans a new series of trips to other countries. In a press conference last Tuesday (30), Lula revealed that he has, in June, an economic meeting in France; in August he participates in the Brics meeting in South Africa; he also has a meeting with the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, in São Tomé and Príncipe, in Central Africa; and, in September, Lula also participates in the G20 meeting, in India.