What to expect from Lula’s first trip to Argentina and Uruguay

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT) leaves for Argentina this Sunday (22) and, following that, will go to Uruguay. It will be the first international trip since he took office and will mark a shift to the left in relation to the foreign policy of the government of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL). But the agenda, with the visit to Uruguay, will also seek to make a nod to the international right.

Lula’s trip includes participation in the meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), from which Brazil had withdrawn during the Bolsonaro government. The Brazilian will also have bilateral meetings with other heads of state, including Argentina’s left-wing President Alberto Fernández and possibly Venezuela’s dictator Nicolás Maduro. Afterwards, Lula heads to Uruguay, where he will meet on Wednesday (25) with conservative president Luis Lacalle Pou, in a nod to the international right.

The choice of Argentina for Lula’s first international trip was strategically thought out precisely because of the CELAC meeting, which will bring together several leaders from South America. Members of the government say that Brazil must assume the role of protagonist to strengthen the countries of the continent. Lula’s trip to Argentina will be the first step towards this external objective of the PT government.

“This is a great project of President Lula’s foreign policy, which will bring Brazil back to an intense international role, so that all Brazilians can once again be proud of their country”, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira, during an event at Itamaraty.

Brazil had ceased to be part of Celac in 2020, during the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL). At the time, the then chancellor, Ernesto Araújo, justified the measure by stating that “CELAC had not been having results in the defense of democracy or in any area. On the contrary, it provided a stage for non-democratic regimes such as those in Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua”.

The Lula government, on the other hand, argues that the decision to reintegrate Brazil into CELAC is part of the project to “restore Brazilian diplomacy” and “rebuild bridges with South American countries”. “Brazil’s return to the Latin American community of States is an indispensable step towards the recomposition of our diplomatic heritage and for the country’s full reinsertion into the international community”, informed the Itamaraty, in a note.

In Argentina, Lula will defend Brazil’s candidacy to host the Climate Conference

On another front, Lula intends to use his trip to Argentina to defend Brazil’s candidacy to host the Climate Conference (COP) to be promoted by the United Nations in 2025. The Planalto Palace decided to launch the capital of Pará, Belém, as a candidate Brazilian to host the event. The focus on the environment, an agenda more linked to the left, is another change in direction in Brazilian diplomacy in relation to the Bolsonaro government.

Before taking office, Lula had already stated that he would ask the United Nations (UN) for the Amazon to host the climate summit in 2025. This occurred during the last COP, in November, in Egypt – in which Lula participated. The evaluation of members of the government is that the support of the countries of South America will be decisive for Brazil to be chosen for the climate summit.

The environmental agenda will be present in Lula’s meetings with international leaders during his visit to Argentina. The government’s expectation is that Brazil can be a protagonist of Mercosur to unlock trade agreements with European Union countries that face obstacles because of environmental issues. “The president has already done a lot for Mercosur and will do it again”, said the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, during his participation in the Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland).

Lula will have meetings with the president of Argentina and Maduro

In addition to participating in the Celac meeting, Itamaraty is preparing a series of bilateral meetings between Lula and other South American leaders. On the agenda with the president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, the Brazilian president intends to close a new energy integration agreement to take natural gas from the Patagonian basin of Vaca Muerta to Rio Grande do Sul.

The expectation is that the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) will finance the second section of the gas pipeline to connect Argentine Patagonia and Brazil. “We shared a day’s work with the minister [da Economia da Argentina,] Sergio Massa, in which we analyze the beginning of the economic year and the economic and energy integration agreement with Brazil, which we will sign on January 23, during Lula’s visit,” said the Argentine president on Twitter.

Planalto members also point out that other topics such as trade, defense and cooperation in Antarctica, health, science and technology complete the agenda of the meeting.

Lula should also have meetings with other South American leaders on his trip to Argentina. But, according to Itamaraty, the agenda has not yet been fully defined.

One of the expectations is that Lula will also have his first meeting with the dictator of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro. The meeting is pointed out by Lula’s assistants as “natural”, considering that Brazil has resumed relations with the current Venezuelan government, which had been suspended since the government of Jair Bolsonaro. At the meeting with Maduro, Lula should deal with the mission that the Brazilian government is going to send to Venezuela to start the process of reopening the Brazilian embassy in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas. The work will be led by Ambassador Flávio Macieira.

Lula goes to Uruguay to wave to conservative president Luis Lacalle Pou

In another strategy of his international policy, Lula intends to travel to Uruguay next, where he will have a meeting with President Luis Lacalle Pou. Conservative and right-wing, Lacalle Pou was in Lula’s inauguration and the PT’s visit is seen as a nod to the Uruguayan.

According to Planalto members, Lula’s visit to the President of Uruguay will be a way for the PT to demonstrate that he does not intend to ignore right-wing leaders in his international relations. The meeting’s agenda and themes are being defined with leaders from both countries.

“After accepting the invitation of President Luis Lacalle Pou, his Brazilian counterpart Lula will visit Uruguay on January 25 [quarta-feira]. Both foreign ministers are working on the agenda for this bilateral meeting,” wrote the Uruguayan government on social media.

Trips to Brazilian states were postponed by Planalto

The government postponed a series of trips that Lula intended to make to Brazilian states before leaving for Argentina. Planalto’s expectation was that the president would go to the states of Bahia, Ceará and Rio de Janeiro to announce programs and inaugurate works. However, the agendas were postponed after the episodes of vandalism in the headquarters of the three powers, on January 8th. In addition, the works were not completed or, although ready, suffered depredations.

“The housing projects we visited are all destroyed. Even those that are ready were abandoned, had broken glass, stolen structures. And we are not going to hand it over to the population like that”, said the Minister of the Civil House, Rui Costa. The minister was in Bahia last weekend visiting works to enable the resumption of the Minha Casa Minha Vida program.

Now, the expectation is that these visits will be rescheduled for February. “Him [Lula] resumes this sequence of agendas launching programs. We will have matching schedules of inaugurations with launches of national programs in priority areas”, explained Rui Costa.