COMMENTARY: THE US NEEDS TO CHILL OUT ABOUT LULA

US meddling in Latin America has contributed to Brazil’s alignment with China and Russia.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva raised eyebrows in recent weeks thanks to his overtures to China and Russia, seemingly repudiating the United States.

On his recent visit to Beijing, Lula stated his wish to help “balance world politics” by “[raising] the level of strategic partnership” and “[expanding] trade flows” between China and Brazil while calling on developing countries to end their dependence on the US dollar for international trade settlements. Lula also hosted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Brasilia and blamed the United States for fueling the Russo-Ukrainian war rather than seeking peace. Brazil and Argentina, South America’s two largest economies, have also begun preparations for a common currency to which other Latin American countries would be invited, consistent with Lula’s longstanding aspiration toward greater regional integration. What is Lula up to?

LOOKING EAST, NOT NORTH

The response from the United States has been predictably condemnatory, with Washington accusing Brazil of “parroting Chinese and Russian propaganda.” Yet, while Washington has yet to abandon the “with us or against us” posture it has become accustomed to, Beijing has recently been riding a wave of major diplomatic achievements, showing that it is open for business to the long list of states spurned by the West.

It’s unsurprising, therefore, that Latin American states should increasingly look to China for partnership. The United States has a long and dark history of backing right-wing coups and dictatorships in Latin America while opposing left-wing governments. Brazil has been no exception. In 1964, the US supported the overthrow of President Joao Goulart by a coup which installed a military dictatorship for the next two decades. During this period, Lula emerged as a major dissident figure at the head of the Workers’ Party, which played a significant role in Brazil’s transition to democracy.

But Lula has even more recent and personal reasons to be suspicious of the United States. Leaks reported by The Intercept in 2020 show that the United States was deeply involved in the controversial anti-corruption drive “Operation Car Wash,” which helped bring down Lula’s successor Dilma Rousseff, and led to Lula being sent to prison prior to the 2018 election which he was overwhelmingly expected to win. Lula’s imprisonment brought to power right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, who openly eulogized the military dictatorship and even celebrated the colonel responsible for Rousseff’s past torture while deepening bilateral ties between Brazil and the United States under President Donald Trump.

Evidence was later leaked which questioned the impartiality and political motivations of Operation Car Wash, and Lula’s conviction was overturned. Lula again ran and won the election of 2022, after which Bolsonaro immediately decamped for Florida while his supporters attacked the capitol, leading many to draw comparisons with the events of Jan. 6, 2021, in the United States, and creating the impression that the United States was providing Bolsonaro with sanctuary.

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