Radical leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva broke the record of most days spent abroad by a Brazilian president during the first 150 days of a term in office this weekend, the news outlet Jovem Pan reported.
Jovem Pan’s report stated that Lula, who began his third presidential term on January 1, has so far spent 20 days outside of Brazil since his third inauguration. That number surpasses any other Brazilian president in history for the same number of days, including Lula himself during his first two presidential terms (2003-2010).
Lula has yet to reach 150 days in office and will clock even more days out of the country by then. The leftist president is scheduled to travel to Japan between May 19-21 to participate in the 49th G7 summit in Hiroshima. Lula will reach 150 days of his third term on May 31.
During his first five months in office, Lula has so far traveled to eight countries: Argentina, Uruguay, the United States, China, the United Arab Emirates, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Jovem Pan details that Lula has so far accrued more than 80,000 kilometers in international travels — which is equivalent to two entire trips around the world.
In contrast, Lula spent 13 days abroad during the first 150 days of his first presidential term and 15 during the first 150 days of his second term. His predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, spent 17 days abroad by the time he reached his first 150 days in office.
Lula’s focus on international trips aims to strengthen the country’s diplomatic relations, “improve” Brazil’s image, and bring back “investments and agreements” to the South American nation,” Jovem Pan detailed.
During his trip to China in April, Lula signed 15 agreements with the Chinese Communist Party, ranging from technology, space exploration, and media collaboration between China’s Xinhua state-media outlet and Brazil’s Communications Company (EBC). Chinese state media reported that the radical leftist president may have Brazil join China’s predatory Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) program, though neither side has definitively confirmed any such agreement. Both governments did agree to use the Chinese yuan to conduct bilateral trade instead of the U.S. dollar.
In addition to signing agreements with other countries, Lula has also campaigned for a role as a mediator between Ukraine and Russia, a proposal he discussed with Chinese dictator Xi Jinping during their official meeting in Beijing.
Lula had already expressed interest in such mediation in January after refusing a request by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to provide ammunition to Ukraine.
Jovem Pam’s report describes Lula as the president who has traveled the most after Brazil’s return to democracy in 1985. During his first two terms, Lula made 243 trips across 80 countries.
Lula’s focus on international diplomacy has cost him in Brazilian Congress, where Lula’s government has struggled to consolidate its majority. Lula’s biggest losses have come in the Chamber of Deputies (the lower chamber), where his administration suffered two major setbacks: the postponement of the “anti fake news” bill, which seeks to aims to regulate social media punishing the spread of online content deemed “false,” and a bill that overturns federal government changes to the country’s basic sanitation legal framework.
“It’s another defeat. We [from the Progressives Party] have helped with governing, but Lula has to articulate, because with a ministry he is not solving anything,” Brazilian lawmaker José Nelto of the Progressives Party told Jovem Pam last week. “Ministries [executive agencies] don’t win over Congressmen. Lula has to attract the Congressmen, not the parties, because the Congressmen are not seeing themselves represented [by the ministers].”
Ciro Nogueira, who served as Bolsonaro’s chief of staff between August 2021 and December 2022, criticized Lula’s extensive time abroad and apparent lack of a congressional agenda through his Twitter account last week.
“5 months, 37 ministries, 7 international trips and no priority agenda in Congress,” Nogueira wrote. “The government that did not start only looks backwards or outwards. Projects to create jobs in Brazil? None. Spending cuts? Much less. Fasten your seat belts, the pilot is gone.”
Lula is expected to make at least five more trips in 2023, including his upcoming visit to Japan.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.