Chico Buarque and Luiz Inácio Lulada Silva gave a good lesson in soft power this Monday, at the start of the Brazilian president’s visit to Portugal and Spain. “We are here because, finally, democracy has won in Brazil”, said Lula, in the presentation of the Camões award to the veteran writer and samba and bossanova artist, exiled during the military dictatorship and traveling companion of the Workers’ Party ( PT), in the Portuguese city of Sintra. Former president Jair Bolsonaro had refused to endorse the award to Buarque announced in 2019.
With far-right populist parties knocking on the door in their respective countries, many European leaders – including Pedro Sánchez – have taken note of the strategic success of the Brazilian left and its centrist allies in defeating the bolsonarism
But if the common rejection of Bolsonaro has served to tighten relations between Brazil, Spain and Europe, another strongman of authoritarian nationalism, Vladimir Putin, threatens to sour them.
Lula has not hidden a central goal of his international policy: to promote a negotiated solution for peace in Ukraine. Always critical of the permanence and expansion of NATO, he has rejected pressure from Washington and, to a lesser extent, Europe, to supply arms to Ukraine. Brazil has condemned the Russian invasion before the UN, but rejects a conflict to wear down Russia’s military capacity, as the war has been defined in Washington.
“Lula does not support Russia but defends the negotiation, and wants to maintain equidistance between China, the United States and the European Union,” said Pedro Silva Barros, former director of Unasur in a telephone interview.
At 77, the historic leader of the PT has adopted a grueling foreign travel program, starting, days after taking office in January, with visits to Buenos Aires and Montevideo, then Washington and Beijing. After the trip to the Iberian Peninsula this week, he will go to Tokyo. All this to reinsert Brazil into the diplomatic circuit after years of pariah status with Bolsonaro.
It is intended to relaunch economic integration projects in South America such as Unasur, strengthen the Mercosur single market and sign a treaty with the EU that does not involve excessive liberalization of imports. On May 30, a summit of South American presidents will be held in Brasilia and another in August of the countries with territory in the Amazon in the city of Belém, at the mouth of the Amazon. European support will be key to promoting the multilateral mechanisms needed to protect the planetary lung.
But playing a central role in achieving peace in Ukraine may be the Brazilian Government’s boldest bet. Lula advocates opening negotiations between Ukraine and Russia mediated by China. Experienced and respected diplomat and ex-chancellor Celso Amorim has already met in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and is expected to visit Ukraine soon.
Also from Brussels, although the negotiated solution is likely to have more support in Europe than meets the eye. Amorim visited Paris right after his trip to Moscow. Even in the United States, where popular support for the war is already weakening, there are those who applaud the initiative.
“Everyone loved Lula, now they criticize him,” said Peter Hakim, an analyst at the InterAmerican Dialogue, in an interview held in Washington. “But his way is sensible. The negotiations offer the best solution for the Ukraine-Russia warâ€.
