Argentina’s president meets with Lula in Brazil after his election triumph

By Bala Chambers

BUENOS AIRES (AA) - Argentine President Alberto Fernandez flew to Brazil on Monday in a show of support for Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva following his win in a down-to-the-wire presidential runoff.

On Sunday night, Lula beat far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in a tight race, garnering 50.9% of the vote compared with Bolsonaro’s 49.1%, according to Brazil's Supreme Electoral Court.

The Argentine leader met with Lula around noon at the InterContinental Hotel in Brazil's financial capital, Sao Paulo.

Fernandez said at a press conference that he made the visit knowing what Lula had gone through in recent times, with discussions focused on "what we have to face in the future."

Lula had been a candidate during the 2018 presidential election until graft and money laundering convictions curtailed his political aspirations. He was sent to prison and Bolsonaro won the presidency. In 2019, Lula was released from prison after his convictions were overturned by the Supreme Court, allowing him to run again for office.

"I did not want to be absent today, which is a day for the people of Brazil to vindicate a wonderful leader that they have," said Fernandez.

"With Lula, we share the view on the need for integration in Latin America -- for democracy to be consolidated throughout the continent, for electoral processes to be duly respected and to be able to grow as a region as a whole," he added.

The Peronist leader described it as a "great joy" to learn that Lula's first visit will be to Argentina prior to assuming the presidency on Jan. 1, 2023.

Fernandez congratulated the people of Brazil after the country's elections took place in "total transparency, in calm, in peace. And I think that is valuable and needed by all of Latin America.”

“I wish for Brazil what I wish for a brother nation: that it progresses, grows and does well. When things go well for Brazil, inexorably things go well for Argentina, because we are twinned peoples,” said Fernandez.

According to the Argentine news agency Telam, Lula and Fernandez touched on bilateral trade between the two South American nations, specifically in minerals and food. Fernandez also suggested that Argentina's gas reserves in Vaca Muerta could supply Brazil's south, with Lula reportedly "very interested.”

During Fernandez's meeting with Lula, the Argentine leader was accompanied by Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero and Argentina's Ambassador to Brazil, Daniel Scioli.

Lula was one of the influential figures during the 'pink tide' era -- a period where many Latin American countries turned to the left. ​​​​​​​

The Brazilian politician will return to power amid a new wave of regional leftist leaders from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Honduras, Mexico and Peru.