Carlos Meneses
São Paulo, April 24 (EFE).- The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has intensified his criticism of Donald Trump, coinciding with his worst moment in the electoral polls, in which he already feels the encouragement of Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro.
Lula has gone from highlighting that he was a “friend” of the president of the United States and the good “chemistry” he had with him, to publicly pointing out, even with some sarcasm, for his imperialist desire and his promiscuity on social networks to declare wars.
On his recent European tour, he took advantage of his interventions with the leaders of those countries to attack the Republican for his “senseless” military campaign in Iran.
Before the Prime Minister of Portugal, Luís Montenegro, he ironically defended giving the Nobel Peace Prize to Trump “soon” to end the conflicts.
On Thursday, while attending a food fair, Lula once again opposed the New York magnate: “While Trump wants to make war, we want to teach the African people to make peace, producing food and irrigating the world.”
Experts consulted by EFE do not rule out that the 80-year-old progressive leader has reactivated Trump’s figure to recover in the polls.
Five months before the elections, the leader of the Workers’ Party sees his popularity falling without brakes from the end of 2025.
In December, Lula had around ten points ahead of Flávio Bolsonaro. Today, the polling firms Quaest and Datafolha place the senator slightly ahead in voting intention.
“We are just a few months away from a presidential election and Lula is expected to adopt stronger positions on Trump’s actions,” political scientist Vitor Sandes, associate professor at the Federal University of Piauí, told EFE.
Sandes recalls that when Trump imposed 50% tariffs on Brazil for the Bolsonaro trial, the exaltation of national sovereignty generated a “positive evaluation” of Lula’s government.
In this sense, for political scientist Claudio Couto, professor at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV), “there is no doubt” that Lula intends to “instrumentalize” the damage that the Trump Government, linked to Bolsonarism, causes to Brazil to “improve its popularity and increase its electoral options.”
Political scientist Luciana Santana, professor at the Federal University of Alagoas, also sees in this new offensive against Trump some “electoral strategy”, but within the position that Lula has “always” maintained in relation to the US.
Along the same lines, José Chrispiniano, Lula’s former advisor, does not consider that the Brazilian leader’s speech “has changed so much” because “one thing is the relationship between heads of state and another is criticizing the war,” he explains to EFE.
However, even Lula himself acknowledged in a recent interview, half jokingly and half seriously, that Trump would “help him a lot” if he decided to interfere against him ahead of the October elections.
In parallel, the diplomatic relationship between Brazil and the US, which seemed to be on track after several contacts between their leaders, the elimination of 50% tariffs and the withdrawal of part of the sanctions imposed on Brazilian authorities, is cracking again.
In March, Brazil denied a visa to a Trump adviser who intended to visit Jair Bolsonaro in prison, who is serving 27 years in prison for plotting a coup against Lula.
This Monday, the US expelled a Brazilian federal police officer who was working in Miami for alleged irregular maneuvers to arrest Bolsonaro’s former Intelligence Director, Alexandre Ramagem, convicted of the coup plot and fled to Florida.
Brazil then summoned the representative of the US Embassy in Brasilia and informed him that it will apply the principle of reciprocity with one of the North American police officers working in the country.
The Brazilian antitrust body added fuel to the fire this Thursday by reopening an investigation against Google for the use of press news in its search engine using artificial intelligence, an issue that has already caused clashes between Trump and his main business partners.
Meanwhile, the meeting between Lula and Trump at the White House, scheduled for last March, remains up in the air. EFE
(file photo)
