In hindsight, it might have been a high-water mark in the relationship between the administrations in Washington and Brasília.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called on President Joe Biden in the White House in February.
The visit came weeks after far-right protesters in the Brazilian capital had stormed the major institutions of the country’s federal democracy in an angry challenge to Lula’s election as president. Their failed insurrection in some ways mirrored the experience of the US with the Capitol riot two years before and loomed over the meetings between the two leaders.
A joint statement from Biden and Lula affirmed their pledge “to work together to strengthen democratic institutions” and “continue to reject extremism and violence in politics”.
