'I hope Biden wins,' Brazil's Lula says ahead of US election

[February 28, 2024]  SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hopes U.S. counterpart Joe Biden will win his bid for re-election in November, he said in an interview aired late on Tuesday. 

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil reacts during a press conference at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, February 26, 2024. REUTERS/Adriano Machado/File Photo

"Although I am not a U.S. voter, I think it's obvious that Biden is a greater guarantee for the survival of democracy in the world and the United States," Lula told local TV channel RedeTV.

Democrat Biden will likely face Republican former President Donald Trump in November in a rematch of their 2020 race. Two years later, the leftist Lula defeated far-right incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro, often likened to Trump, to win his third non-consecutive term in Brazil.

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

"Since the beginning (of his term) Biden has positioned himself in defense of workers," Lula said. "I hope Biden wins the election."

In September, the two leaders launched an initiative to advance the rights of working people and have also agreed on topics such as the transition to greener energy, being founding members of the Global Biofuel Alliance.

Their disagreements include the war in Gaza, with Lula claiming Israel has been responsible for a "genocide" against Palestinians. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Brazilian leader in a meeting last week that Washington disagreed with Lula's remarks.

Biden in 2022 was one of the first world leaders to congratulate Lula on his election victory and backed him on Jan. 8, 2023 when Bolsonaro supporters invaded and ransacked Brazil's presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court calling for a military coup.

Those scenes are often compared to the U.S. Capitol invasion by Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, two weeks before Trump left office. Lula has in the past dubbed Bolsonaro a "copy" of Trump.

(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo and Lisandra Paraguassu; editing by Mark Heinrich)

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