Odd friends, Bush and Lula foster Brazil-US ties http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN3029004520070330
Fri Mar 30, 2007
By Raymond Colitt
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and President Bush come from opposite ends of the political spectrum but good personal rapport and mutual interests are helping to warm ties between the Western Hemisphere's two most populous nations.
The left-leaning Lula arrives in Washington late on Friday to meet with the conservative Bush for the second time in less than a month. Indicative of his visit's importance, Lula will be the first Latin American leader on a state visit to be received at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland since Mexico's Carlos Salinas de Gortari in 1991.
Three weeks ago, there was lots of back-slapping and joking when Lula and Bush met in Sao Paulo to promote a global ethanol market. The United States and Brazil are the world's two largest producers of the biofuel.
"There's good chemistry between the two, they've realized they have mutual interests," said David Fleischer, a political analyst in Brasilia. "Brazil fits nicely into Bush's green card," he said in reference to the environmentally friendly fuel.
Such camaraderie is a far cry from September 2003, when Washington accused Brazil of sabotaging global trade talks by forging the G-20 group of developing nations as a counterbalance to U.S. and European interests. Lula, who during his first term focused on building ties with other developing countries such as India and South Africa, now speaks of great trade opportunities with the United States. Fierce disputes over cotton and sugar trade with Washington have given way to talk of cooperation within the World Trade Organization.
MUTUAL INTERESTS
Bush and Lula are unlikely allies with very different backgrounds. Born into a humble family in Brazil's poor northeast, Lula worked as a shoeshine boy and did not finish high school. He led a metalworkers' union and helped fight against military dictatorship in the 1980s. He spent much of his political career ranting against big business and neoliberal economic policies backed by the United States.
Bush, the son of a U.S. president and grandson of a U.S. senator, comes from a blue-blooded family. He graduated from the elite Andover high school and Yale University, and was an oil man and business executive.
Neither speaks the other's language though both are criticized at home for speaking their own language poorly.
Since they first met in December 2002, they have found common ground, saying they appreciate each other's candor. Bush respects Lula's political career, which includes two landslide presidential election victories following three defeats.
Analysts say what has brought them together recently is a new understanding of mutual interests.
The United States looks to Brazil for leadership to help moderate the anti-Americanism that Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez is seeking to spread in the region.
"The U.S. realized Chavez needs to be neutralized and Brazil is the obvious partner," said Riordan Roett, a Latin America specialist at Johns Hopkins University.
Lula realized that without Bush there will be no breakthrough in the Doha round of global free-trade talks to open new markets for Brazil's agriculture exports.
But many analysts remain skeptical Bush can deliver on freer farm trade. "So far it's all just well-intentioned talk. Bush is a lame duck president with Congress dominated by Democrats," said Jose Augusto de Castro of Brazil's Export Association. "And if the Doha round fails, who knows if Lula will stop flirting with Washington."
(Additional reporting by Adriana Garcia in Washington)
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