Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva apologized on Monday for the «rudeness» hurled by his predecessor in office, Jair Bolsonaro, against the Argentine population, and advocated the reestablishment of a brotherly relationship that «should never have been interrupted».
As part of his trip to Buenos Aires, Lula met with his Argentine counterpart, Alberto Fernández, to whom he appealed to «rebuild» the «peaceful, productive and advanced» relationship between two countries that «were born to grow, develop and generate better living conditions for their peoples».
In this sense, Lula has even branded Bolsonaro as «genocidal» for his management of the coronavirus pandemic – which hit the South American nation hard – and has also apologized for «all the offenses he made to Fernandez», according to ‘O Globo’.
Relations between Brasilia and Buenos Aires were truncated during Bolsonaro’s term in office (2018-2022) mainly due to ideological differences between the two leaders that led Bolsonaro to support Mauricio Macri in the elections.
After Fernandez’s victory in the December 2019 presidential election, Bolsonaro regretted the election and even went so far as to insinuate that Argentina could become the new Venezuela of the continent, as recalled by the portal Universo Online.
For her part, in statements to the press after the meeting, Fernandez has called the meeting «wonderful» and has ventured that the link between the two countries will now be «much deeper» and «will last for decades to come».
«Everyone knows the deep affection and admiration I feel for my friend Lula (…) He is a leader and a great statesman», said President Fernandez, who praised Lula’s past mandates, where he managed to «lift millions of Brazilian people out of poverty».
At this point, the Argentine head of state assured that Brasilia and Buenos Aires are entering «another stage» in their relations, although both nations are still connected by «the same problems and the same needs» they faced «200 years ago», reports Télam.
«Bolsonaro passed through Brazil and Macri passed through Argentina, and the challenges we face are very similar,» said Fernandez, thus launching a harsh criticism of the respective predecessors of each president.
Lula promised after his electoral victory that the first country he would travel to would be Argentina with a view to restoring relations between the two countries. In fulfillment of this promise, the president traveled to Buenos Aires on Sunday. «We are going to resume ties», assured the Brazilian president.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
