Bolsonaro Government’s Message to Biden: Trumpism Lives On in Brazil - Samy Adghirni and Walter Brandimarte

Bolsonaro Government’s Message to Biden: Trumpism Lives On in Brazil

By Samy Adghirni and Walter Brandimarte

Bloomberg News, 15 de janeiro de 2021 07:35 BRT

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-15/biden-is-told-trump-may-be-going-but-trumpism-lives-on-in-brazil?sref=69Fifx0M

 

Brazil foreign minister says conservatives are being silenced

Ernesto Araujo hopes Biden will understand Brazil as Trump did

 

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s government, which embraced both the Trump administration and its core ideals, wants President-elect Joe Biden to know that it’s not about to reverse course in response to the change of U.S. leadership.

Instead, it expects Biden to realize that Brazil and the U.S. have many shared interests, including promoting democracy and security in Latin America, and are not on opposite sides regarding the environment, according to Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo.

“We hope that the new U.S. administration perceives our government for what it really is, for what the Brazilian people are and stand for,” Araujo said in an interview at his office in Brasilia on Thursday. “Both sides must make an effort for mutual understanding.”

 

That type of mutual comprehension came easily with Donald Trump, not only because of his friendship with Bolsonaro but because Trump understood that Brazilians made a choice by electing the former army officer as their president, Araujo said. In exchange for Brazil’s alignment with U.S. positions, Trump lifted a ban on fresh-beef imports from the Latin American country, supported its bid to join the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and signed deals for cooperation in defense and space exploration.

Brazil, as Latin America’s largest economy, does more trade with the U.S. than any other country except China. Yet Bolsonaro has been publicly at odds with Biden since he threatened Brazil in a campaign debate with “significant economic consequences” if it didn’t act to preserve the Amazon. People familiar with Biden’s plans said in December that he would lead a united Western front to put pressure on Bolsonaro to adopt stricter environmental policies, following two years of international outrage over the spread of fires destroying the rainforest.

 

Araujo, however, said that environmental concerns are overblown by local and international media. Brazil remains in the Paris Agreement, he said, and has made an important offer to bring forward its carbon neutrality goal in exchange for $10 billion a year from developed countries. He said that with the U.S. set to rejoin the global accord, there will be more money on the table for such payments.

 

Conservatives Silenced

Bolsonaro, who styled himself a Brazilian version of Trump, publicly supported his candidacy and was one of the last world leaders to congratulate Biden for his victory. Last week, as rioters invaded the U.S. Capitol, the Brazilian president repeated claims that there had been “a lot of fraud” in the U.S. vote as well as during his own 2018 election -- which he claims he should have won in the first round of voting.

Araujo declined to comment on the fraud allegations but said that concerns over voting systems in the U.S., Brazil and other countries are legitimate and must be addressed. He condemned the violence in Washington last week but cautioned that it can’t be used as an excuse to muzzle conservative voices around the world.

“As much as nothing justifies the invasion, nothing justifies the curtailment of freedom of speech,” he said, criticizing Twitter Inc’s decision to ban Trump from the platform and accusing the company of removing thousands of his own followers for no clear reason. “It’s become a witch hunt,” Araujo said.

The minister didn’t rule out the possibility that the type of protests seen in Washington could happen elsewhere, including in Brazil’s 2022 presidential election.

“When people feel suffocated in their capacity to speak and hear, this can lead to serious problems in any country,” he said.

 

De Trump Para Biden, sem vergonha nenhuma, e sem se corrigir - Entrevista de Sami Adghirni com o chanceler acidental

Os trumpistas brasileiros, que erraram em toda a linha durante um ano e meio, aliás desde antes – quando o patético 03, ignorante e inepto, passeava com boné da campanha de "Trump 2020" e nunca se cansou de apoiar sua eleição – se preparam agora para desembarcar do Titanic do Trump, e tentar embarcar no transatlântico do Biden.

O mais contraditório é que, depois de apoiar Trump, e não apenas os EUA, ele proclamam que as relações são entre países e não os seus líderes. Mas, continuam se submetendo a Trump, apoiando seu candidato ao BID, quando isso representa uma TRAIÇÃO a um acordo estabelecido desde o início do Banco, em 1960, que reserva o cargo a um latino-americano, sendo que os EUA ficariam com a vice-presidência (aliás mais estratégica). Esses caras não aprendem.

Paulo Roberto de Almeida 

A Trump Ally, Brazil Says It’s Prepared to Deal With Biden

By Samy Adghirni

Bloomberg, 27 de julho de 2020 19:01 BRT

Updated on 27 de julho de 2020 19:36 BRT

Foreign minister says ties are between countries, not leaders

Brazil backs U.S. name for IDB in sign of ‘new relationship’

Brazil has developed a very close relationship with the U.S. under President Donald Trump, but would have no problem dealing with Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate for president, if he’s elected later this year, according to the Latin American nation’s foreign minister.

Ernesto Araujo, who implemented a major pro-U.S. shift in foreign policy since far-right President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019, said Brazil is prepared for the possibility of a Trump defeat and political tide-turning in the November election, despite many Democrats’ growing criticism of the country’s environmental and human right record.

“I am sure that, despite some adjustments, we would be be able to maintain a very positive agenda under a possible Democratic administration,” he said in a video interview. “While Presidents Bolsonaro and Trump have built a very close relationship that has brought mutual benefits, the advancements happened between Brazil and the U.S., not between two presidents.”

Cooperation in areas including business, defense and security would likely continue under Biden, Araujo said, adding that many opportunities lie ahead because the countries share the same values, such as democracy and freedom.

Trump and Bolsonaro are mutual admirers who were both elected by appealing to nationalist sentiment in their electorates. The Brazilian leader is often likened to Trump, a comparison he has embraced. But the seismic shift of Brazil’s foreign policy under Bolsonaro has been heavily criticized by former diplomats and foreign policy experts for breaking the country’s tradition of supporting multilateral efforts.

At the moment, the leaders’ close relationship has yielded some benefits for Latin America’s largest economy. Trump lifted a ban on fresh-beef imports from Brazil that had been in place since a 2017 meat scandal. He also announced he supports the country’s bid to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and refrained from placing tariffs on Brazilian steel. The two countries have also signed deals for defense and space-exploration cooperation. Discussions for a bilateral trade agreement are underway as well.

The relationship between the two countries has improved, Araujo said, because Bolsonaro cleared up a “grudge” that previous Brazilian governments had against the U.S.

Inter-American Leadership

Despite progress in bringing the two countries together, there have also been marked setbacks, with Brazil on the losing end. Trump has repeatedly pointed to the country as an example of how not to deal with a pandemic, and in May he banned travel from Brazil to the U.S.

In June Brazil lost its bid for the presidency of the Inter-American Development Bank when the Trump administration announced it would launch its own candidate. The coronavirus pandemic has boosted the importance of the Washington-based IDB, as it plans to lend billions of dollars to help Latin American nations recover. Trump’s decision broke a non-written tradition by which the bank is always headed by a Latin American, but Araujo minimized the importance of that gesture, saying it had not come as a surprise because Brazil had agreed to it.

“For us, what matters is to have a common work program and not necessarily the nationality of whomever will be the bank’s president,” he said. “We had a plan to launch our candidate but we agreed on the U.S. candidate.”

Araujo called the agreement “a sign of this new relationship we have with the U.S.”

Other Topics

Read more: U.S. to Prioritize Brazil Over Argentina in OECD Reversal (2)

Read more: All-In Trump Bet Backfires for Bolsonaro Amid Tariff Threats

Read below about other topics from the interview.

HUAWEI/5G: While often portrayed as a China skeptic, Araujo didn’t say if he’s in favor of banning Huawei from building Brazil’s 5G network in the auction expected next year. He said Brazil is dealing with the issue on a technical level, in accordance with the country’s priorities and vision.

DEFORESTATION: Araujo blamed Bolsonaro’s domestic opponents for spreading what he called lies throughout the world about deforestation in the Amazon that have damaged Brazil’s reputation in Europe and the U.S. The minister praised the current administration’s “unprecedented effort to enforce environment legislation.”

ARGENTINA: Bolsonaro has publicly said three times that he was willing to meet leftist Argentinian President Alberto Fernandez, but the appeal has yet to be reciprocated, Araujo said. Questioned about strengthening ties between Argentina and China, the minister said he wouldn’t comment on his neighbor’s decisions.

VENEZUELA: Araujo said Brazil hasn’t yet declared representatives of Venezuela’s government in Brasilia as unwelcome, even though they have refused to leave despite the Bolsonaro administration no longer recognizing them as diplomats. The minister said the Supreme Court’s decision to allow the envoys to remain in Brazil because of the pandemic has complicated the case.

(Updates with paragraphs about topics discussed.)