President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s (PT) speeches criticizing the United States’ embargoes on Cuba during his trip to Havana this weekend do not generate major friction in Brazil’s foreign policy, he told CNN Christopher Garman, executive director for the Eurasian Americas.
For him, statements of this type at this time have softened impacts for several reasons, such as the loosening of the embargoes themselves and the UN’s defense of their ending.
“[As declarações] comes in a context in which the president [dos Estados Unidos, Joe] Biden is relaxing the degree of embargo and restrictions on Cuba. These statements do not conflict so much or generate any type of friction greater than expected”.
“His statements on this trip do not differ much from PT statements in the past. It doesn’t differ much even from a UN position, criticizing the embargoes against Cuba”, he added.
Still, Garman says that Lula’s trip to Cuba itself recalls controversial statements and moments by the president in national foreign policy.
“The trip to Cuba refers to an aspect of Brazilian foreign policy that has been criticized, which refers to a proximity to more authoritarian regimes, comments that were very controversial in relation to Venezuela. Evidently, he is now in Cuba, making statements against the embargo [dos Estados Unidos] to the country”, he explained.
This is the first time since 2014 that a Brazilian president has visited the country . It is also Lula’s first trip to the island in his third term.
He participated in the G77 summit in Havana, where he discussed the emerging agenda of countries in the global south with other heads of state.
Despite the controversies and approaches to non-democratic regimes, such as Venezuela, Garman says he sees Brazilian politics as ambiguous, and not in opposition to consolidated democracies such as the United States.
“What we are seeing from Brazilian foreign policy is not that it is choosing China over the United States. It is a foreign policy that wants to play both sides. We are seeing this in several countries in the global south.”
*Produced by Duda Cambraia, from CNN in São Paulo
Source: CNN Brasil
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