Two Big Friends

The presidents of Brazil and the United States, Jair Bolsonaro and Donald Trump, met in Washington, finding great similarities on the issues they addressed, due to their obvious common ideological and political affinity for right-wing democracy.

Brazil and the U.S. are two of the three largest countries in the Americas. Brazil stretches across 8.5 million square kilometers (approximately 3.3 million square miles), making it the fifth largest country in the world, while the U.S. is a little over 9 million square kilometers (approximately 3.8 million square miles) and is fourth place in size on the planet.

Regarding population, there is a difference of over 100 million inhabitants between the two countries. Brazil has about 208.5 million people, while the U.S. has almost 326 million.

There is a major economic difference, considering that the gross national product per person in Brazil is $15.48, while in the U.S. that figure is $62.67, according to Wikipedia.

However, the most important aspect of the relationship between President Trump and President Bolsonaro, and the most interesting to Nicaraguans, is their common categorical repudiation of the self-proclaimed socialist dictatorships in Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua.

Bolsonaro and Trump discussed, among other topics, a strategic alliance between the two large American countries and the possibility that Brazil could become part of NATO. President Trump also offered to support Brazil in its effort to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a select group of the richest 36 democracies in the world, in which there are only two members from Latin America: Mexico and Chile.

However, Venezuela occupied most of the presidents’ attention. Trump stated in a press conference after meeting Bolsonaro that he had still not applied the strongest sanctions against Nicolas Maduro’s regime. Also, he reiterated that, regarding his efforts to end the Venezuelan dictatorship, “All options are on the table.”

For his part, the Brazilian president backed the U.S. policy against the Venezuelan dictatorship, although he did not clearly state whether he would support military intervention to overthrow Maduro or not. However, he did not specifically say he opposes it, although the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has ruled out that possibility.

The issue of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo in Nicaragua also came up in the meeting between the presidents. According to reports from Voice of America, at the end of the meeting, President Trump affirmed, “The United States and Brazil are also united in support of the long-suffering people of Cuba and Nicaragua.”

This has been, without a doubt, another warning to the Ortega dictatorship and a message of encouragement to the Nicaraguans who are fighting to regain freedom and democracy.