The Portuguese president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, met this Sunday in São Paulo with former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ignoring the anger that the mere notice of that meeting caused the ruler Jair Bolsonaro. The interview with Lulafavorite to win the elections next October in Brazil against Bolsonaro, led the far-right leader to cancel an official hearing that he was going to have this Monday with Rebelo de Sousa in Brasilia, an unusual reaction among heads of state.
Even so, the Portuguese leader kept his agenda and received Lula at the Portuguese Consulate in Sao Paulo, where the former Brazilian president attended together with his former foreign minister Celso Amorim, one of those responsible for drafting the foreign relations chapter of the government program that he will present to the electorate. The conversation lasted about an hour and a half and they talked about the political situation in Latin America, Europe and the war in Ukraineaccording to the press team of former President Lula.
After the meeting with Lula, Rebelo de Sousa planned to pay another visit to the São Paulo Book Biennialin whose inauguration he participated on Saturday night and which this year is dedicated to Portugal, on the occasion of the bicentennial of Brazil’s independence from that country, which will be celebrated on September 7. Then she had an appointment scheduled with the former Brazilian president Michel Temer and will also participate in a reception offered at the Portuguese Consulate for members of the Portuguese community residing in São Paulo.
“No one dies” for a cancellation
The Portuguese president arrived in Brazil on Saturday and made a first stop in Rio de Janeiro, where he participated in a commemorative ceremony for the centenary of the first air crossing over the Atlantic, carried out in 1922 by two Portuguese pilots. Rebelo de Sousa also took the opportunity to dive into the waters of Copabacana beach, where he took a walk before starting his official agenda.
There he spoke with some journalists and downplayed Bolsonaro’s decision to cancel the meeting scheduled for Monday and guaranteed that this fact does not affect the relationship between the two countriesbecause this transcends the governments themselves and actually belongs “to the peoples”.
According to the Portuguese president, “no one dies” from a canceled meeting and anyone can “keep or withdraw an invitation.” The truth is it is unusual for an event between heads of state to be canceled during an official visit to a country. According to official protocol guidelines, this only occurs in cases of health or force majeure but never for political reasons, as is the case of Bolsonaro’s refusal.
The Brazilian president said on Friday that he had canceled the agenda that he had planned to share with his Portuguese counterpart after learning that he would meet with Lula earlier. “I decided to cancel the lunch that I would have with me, as well as all the programming”Bolsonaro, who will aspire to renew his mandate in the October elections against Lula, his main political opponent and leader in the polls, told CNN. Asked what would be the reason for his decision, Bolsonaro alleged that Rebelo de Sousa “would have a meeting with Lula.”
Although Portugal maintains 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 the leaders since redemocratization, with the exception of Itamar Franco.