Brazilian President Lula Hopes Joe Biden Wins US Presidential Election 2024

Brazilian President Lula and President Biden. (Wikimedia Commons/Office of the President of the United States)

JAKARTA - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hopes that incumbent Joe Biden will win the United States Presidential Election in November.

"Although I am not a US voter, I think it is clear that Biden is a greater guarantee for the continuity of democracy in the world and the United States," President Lula told local TV channel RedeTV.

President Biden is likely to face former Republican president Donald Trump who he defeated in the 2020 presidential election. Two years later, Lula from the left wing defeated right-wing incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro, who is often equated with Trump, to win a third consecutive term in Brazil.

Lula, who entered politics in the 1970s as a trade union leader, said he had "good relations" with Biden and praised the US president for his defense of workers' rights, saying he supported a strike against automakers last year.

"Since the beginning (his term of office) President Biden has positioned himself to defend workers," said President Lula.

"I hope President Biden wins the election," he said.

In September, the two leaders launched initiatives to advance workers' rights and also agreed on topics such as a transition to more environmentally friendly energy, by becoming a founding member of the Global Biofuel Alliance.

Even so, there are also disagreements between them, such as the war in Gaza, where Lula claims Israel is responsible for the "genocide" against Palestinians. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Brazilian leader at a meeting last week Washington disagreed with President Lula's statement.

President Biden in 2022 was one of the world's first leaders to congratulate President Lula for his victory, expressing support for him, as supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed and searched the Brazilian presidential palace, Congress, and the Supreme Court calling for a military coup on January 8, 2023.

The scene is often likened to the invasion of the US Capitol by Trump supporters on January 6, 2021, two weeks before Trump left office. President Lula has in the past dubbed Bolsonaro Trump's "trick".