Biden invites Brazilian president to visit U.S. in wake of violence

WASHINGTON: U.S. President Joe Biden will host his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, for a visit in the United States in early February, according to a joint statement issued Monday following a call between the two presidents in the wake of violent attacks on Brazil’s government buildings.

The visit, for which an invitation from Biden was accepted by Lula da Silva, was intended to serve as an opportunity for the two leaders to have “in-depth consultations on a wide-ranging shared agenda,” the joint statement said.

During the call, Biden “condemned the violence and the attack on democratic institutions and on the peaceful transfer of power” that the world witnessed in Brasilia, the nation’s capital, as a group of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters stormed the presidential palace, the congressional building and the Supreme Court on Sunday.

As of Monday, more than 1,000 arrests have been made in connection with the violence, according to an update by the Brazilian justice minister, Flavio Dino. The supporters of Bolsonaro were protesting against the former president’s defeat by Lula da Silva in the October presidential election. Bolsonaro didn’t attend his successor’s inauguration on Jan. 1 and is now in the U.S. state of Florida, reportedly being hospitalized due to “discomfort.”

At a daily press briefing on Monday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price refused to reveal the type of visa with which Bolsonaro entered the United States.
While “Brazil’s democratic institutions have our full support,” Price said, the United States “has not yet received any requests for information or for action” from Brazil related to the investigation into Sunday’s attacks. Xinhua

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