Biden, Lula find common ground in strength of their democracies

President Biden and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva marked the survival of their democracies in a bilateral White House meeting Friday, a common ground that led to the leaders to taking jabs at their predecessors.

“Both of our democracies have been tested of late,” Biden said, referring to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and the riots that broke out in Brazil last month.

Biden added that “democracy prevailed” in both cases and that the U.S. and Brazil “reject political violence.”

The riots in Brazil took place Jan. 8, a week after Lula’s inauguration. Thousands of supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who lost his reelection bid in October, stormed government offices in a scene reminiscent of Jan. 6. Biden spoke with Lula the day following the riots and invited him to the White House.

Lula told Biden in their meeting that Brazil had been “isolated from the world itself for four years,” referring to the Bolsonaro administration.

He said that Bolsonaro hated relations with other nations and consumed “fake news morning, afternoon and night,” to which Biden responded, referring to former President Trump, “sounds familiar.”

Their meeting was expected to be largely focused on promoting inclusion and democratic values, which comes ahead of the Summit for Democracy in March.