Lula, who assumed his third term on January 1, following having governed between 2002 and 2010, since his campaign has shown signs of wanting to break the international isolation promoted by Bolsonaro. To do this, he began by reintegrating Brazil into Celac and re-subscribing to the UN migration pact, abandoned by his predecessor.
The brand new government of the leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced this Thursday the return of Brazil to Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), from which the country withdrew three years ago by order of the then far-right president Jair Bolsonaro.
This announcement is added to that of yesterday, Thursday, when Brazil re-adhered to the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration agreed upon at the UN, from which it had withdrawn in 2019 also by decision of Bolsonaro.
Both rudder changes represent significant changes in foreign policy following a mandate marked by international isolation.
Celac, for regional integration
The government communicated to the member countries of the international organization, “through the appropriate diplomatic channels, the reincorporation of Brazil, fully and immediately, to all instances of the mechanism, both those of a political nature and those of a technical nature,” it indicated. the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement.
The Latin American giant suspended its participation in Celac in January 2020 because, according to the administration of Bolsonaro, a harsh critic of the left, the organization “gave prominence to non-democratic regimes such as those of Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua.”
The block, which brings together 33 countries from Latin America and the Caribbean, Without the United States or Canada, it was created in 2010, in the golden years of the Latin American left and with Lula as promoter, with the aim of promoting dialogue in the region.
By the time Bolsonaro pushed Brazil aside, the organization was practically paralyzed by the arrival of conservative governments in the countries that make it up.
Now, the region is experiencing a new wave of leftist presidents in countries like Argentina, Brazil, Colombia or Chile.
“The return of Brazil to the Latin American community of States is an essential step for the recomposition of our diplomatic patrimony and for the full reintegration of the country into the international community,” the note added.
In his inauguration speech in Congress, he announced a new role for Brazil in the world by resuming “South American integration” and the reconstruction of the “high and active dialogue with the United States, the European Community and China.”
The 77-year-old leftist president will participate in the Celac summit, to be held on January 24 in Buenos Aires, to which US President Joe Biden is also invited.
Migration in focus
Meanwhile, the decision of the Government now chaired by the progressive Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva regarding the migration pact was announced in a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in which it is reported that Brazil’s return to the pact has already been communicated to the UN and international agencies dedicated to assisting migrants.
The abandonment of the pact had been one of the first foreign policy decisions adopted in January 2019 by Bolsonaro, the leader of an extreme right who for the last four years had maintained a line of permanent criticism of what he described as “globalism”.
The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration was ratified in 2018 at the UN General Assembly by a total of 152 countries, including Brazil at the time.
Lula, who assumed the Presidency on January 1 following winning the elections last October once morest Bolsonaro, has said that the priority of his foreign policy will be the “return of Brazil to the world” under the banner of multilateralism, which has historically raised the Brazilian diplomacy.