Pneumonia has ruined the most important official visit, in political and commercial terms, of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, 77, at the beginning of his third term. The trip to China, which was to begin this Sunday and included a meeting with President Xi Jinping, has been definitively postponed “on medical recommendation”, as announced by the Presidency of the Republic in a statement. The president has been diagnosed with “bacterial and viral bronchopneumonia due to influenza A” and his condition is improving, the note added. The Chinese authorities have been informed.
His personal doctor, Roberto Kalil, has declared after the announcement to the newspaper or globe: “It didn’t make sense for me to take a 36-hour flight without being cured. He could get worse ”. The Brazilian president was going to meet with Xi in search of investments and promote mediation in the war in Ukraine. The original plan was for Lula to leave for China this Saturday for a four-day stay between Beijing and Shanghai, but on Friday morning his spokeswoman announced that the president had mild pneumonia and that the departure was postponed to Sunday. Although at that first moment Dr. Kalil already recommended rest, he received a dozen ministers at his residence on Friday afternoon.
The trip to China also prevented him from participating in the Ibero-American Summit, where he is represented by the foreign minister, Mauro Vieira. The president had a busy schedule on Wednesday and Thursday with trips to three states and multiple events throughout the day. That tour began at the inauguration of a renewable energy plant of the Brazilian subsidiary of Iberdrola where he looked visibly tired and, to the surprise of those present, he did not give a speech.
The undated postponement of the trip, which included a stop in the United Arab Emirates on the way back, represents a considerable setback for Brazil because the expectations surrounding the visit to its first trading partner were high. The South American was going to travel with a gigantic entourage, more than 200 businessmen, as well as ministers and governors. Some of them are already in China.
The trade between the two countries amounted to 150,000 million dollars last year, with Brazilian exports of around 90,000 million (mainly soybeans and iron ore) and imports from China of about 60,000 million.
In a week it will be three months since the leader of the Brazilian left took power. His tenure began with the most serious attack on Brazilian democracy in decades. Seven days after he took office, the headquarters of the three powers in Brasilia were violently assaulted by a crowd of Bolsonaro fanatics.
The previous president, Jair Bolsonaro, 68, has announced that he will return to Brazil on Thursday the 30th, so if he fulfilled the announcement he would coincide with the current president abroad. With the cancellation of the visit to China, Lula will be in Brasilia if the leader of the Brazilian right wing keeps his word this time. He has announced that he has bought the ticket to land in the Brazilian capital that day first thing in the morning. In any case, until now he has missed all the deadlines that he himself has been giving. Bolsonaro has been installed in Florida (United States) since his term ended and he lost the parliamentary immunity that he has enjoyed for the last three decades.
Subscribe here to the newsletter THE COUNTRY America and receive all the current news in the region.
