BRASILIA/WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and U.S. leader Joe Biden are set to meet next month after Bolsonaro accepted an invitation to the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, two sources told Reuters yesterday.
Bolsonaro’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the news, which was first reported by the O Globo newspaper. The White House and the U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to questions on the matter.
The far-right Brazilian leader, an admirer of former U.S. President Donald Trump, has not yet spoken with Biden, whose election victory he was slow to recognize. Relations between Brasilia and Washington remain frosty over Bolsonaro’s environmental record and attacks on democratic institutions.
Bolsonaro had not planned to attend the summit until Biden sent an envoy to convince him to come with the offer of a bilateral meeting, the two sources said. A Brazilian presidential aide said Bolsonaro and Biden were “practically certain” to meet, while a person in Washington familiar with the matter said details of their meeting were still being finalized.
The U.S. government had faced the prospect of leaders from Latin America’s two largest countries skipping the encounter, which is expected to tackle migration and the environment as well as showcasing hemispheric democracy.
