Sánchez and Lula close ranks against Trump: "Brazil and Spain are in the same trench"
The two leaders defend 'No to war' and position themselves as the leaders of the international progressive front
BarcelonaFor weeks, Pedro Sánchez has been working to establish himself as the architect of anti-Trumpism. And this weekend, he will be the graphic image in Barcelona. The Spanish president is bringing together various world leaders from the progressive space to confront the reactionary wave that continues to grow globally. The first handshake was with the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Both have headlined the first Spain-Brazil summit, held at the Palau de Pedralbes in Barcelona, to strengthen the relationship between both countries and sign several strategic and commercial agreements. The two leaders have highlighted the alliance and sent an international message in defense of multilateralism and peace in the face of Donald Trump's warmongering confrontation.
"Brazil and Spain are in the same trench," Lula da Silva stated at the joint press conference following the summit. Lula da Silva embraced the "No to war that Sánchez preached when Donald Trump attacked Iran: "I understand when you say no to war." And at this point, he recalled when the US administration then led by George Bush proposed in 2003 that he participate in the Iraq war: "I told him that our war was different. We fight for a just society."
The Spanish president has once again taken up the banner of peace to warn that the values that sustain it "are being attacked by the reactionary wave, by totalitarianism." The solution, he said, is to "redouble efforts" to defend peace and multilateralism, and the example is the three progressive summits this Friday and Saturday. "To those who open wounds, we want to heal them," he concluded. "May the dream of a better world awaken, otherwise what happened with Hitler and Nazism will happen," Lula warned.
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Renew international law
Sánchez, in this regard, has taken the opportunity to launch a petition to the international community: to "renew" the multilateral system and international law in the face of "attempts to undermine the multilateral order" by leaders like Donald Trump. The Brazilian president reaffirmed himself, stating that currently international organizations like the UN are "very weakened": "The nations that created the UN do not respect the UN, their decisions are not fulfilled".
The two presidents have shown complicity and have expressed their conviction that Friday's summit is an example that "it is possible to build solutions" for the problems affecting their countries, but also internationally "without giving in to the empty promises of extremism", Lula assured. "In a world that doubts, fragments, and seems to be going backwards, we have committed to moving forward together", Sánchez added. The two leaders have presented themselves as the antidote to the far-right and have warned that one of the battlegrounds where the left must also be is on social media, where the far-right is making more inroads. "It is a failed state", Sánchez stated. "It is easier to lie there than to tell the truth", Lula concluded.
Strengthening ties with Brazil
The two presidents are strengthening ties at a time when their internal situations are not at their best. For Pedro Sánchez, polls are not smiling on him; rather, most surveys predict a victory for the right and far-right in the upcoming general elections, while the majority for the investiture is falling apart in Congress. For Lula da Silva, who at 80 years old and with no political successor in sight has already announced he will run for re-election in the elections scheduled for October, polls predict he would win the elections in the first round again, but would tie with Jair Bolsonaro's eldest son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who will run to dispute power.
This Friday's summit is the first that the Spanish state is holding with Brazil —and also with a Latin American country— but it is not the first time that Sánchez and Lula da Silva have met: the Spanish president has been to Brazil and Lula to Spain. As agreed by the two countries a few months ago, they are now raising the level of relations and institutionalizing the alliance. In this way, this Friday's summit should be repeated more or less regularly and could be biennial.
Apart from the bilateral meeting between Sánchez and Lula, several ministers from the Spanish government also attended the summit —including the second vice president and minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz; the third vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition, Sara Aagesen; the minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz; the minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares; the minister of Digital Transformation, Óscar López; the minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun; the minister of Science, Diana Morant; and the minister of Equality, Ana Redondo— and their Brazilian counterparts also met at the Palau de Pedralbes.
The two governments have signed fifteen agreements in the economic-commercial sphere, also on critical minerals, innovation, science, and of a social nature, with issues such as the fight against violence against women at the center. "These are key agreements in the 21st century," Sánchez defended. In fact, one of the agreements that the two presidents have celebrated is Mercosur because "it represents the largest free trade area," said Sánchez. Spain is the second largest importer of Brazil and both countries have set out to "increase" ties between the two states. And they kicked off this Friday, when they solemnly signed the political harmony that exists between the two governments.