The Obama-Lula Alliance is Born

The president of the United States, Barack Obama, and the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, promised in Washington yesterday to coordinate their politics in order to take advantage of this historical opportunity they believe will lead to a new model of relations on the American continent. Both leaders share the same opinions also for the necessity of meeting at the next G-20 Summit in London, a collective and important decision in order to respond to the economic crisis.

Although the subject of the economy seemed to dominate the meeting, and was the only point mentioned among the four questions from the press conference, Lula revealed what the two presidents had discussed in their meeting, of a little over two hours, were other points of interest in common. Among those mentioned was the wish of working together in favor of the development of Latin America. The Brazilian president said that the election of Barack Obama represents a historical opportunity that this continent cannot allow to pass.

The American president announced that yesterday’s visit, the first from a Latin American president to the United States since Obama became president, will follow with many meetings between the two governments with the purpose of obtaining a common ground on views of the American Summit that will take place in Trinidad and Tobago on the 17th and 19th of April.

The first encounter between Lula and Obama seems to be the beginning of not only a long and close friendship, but also of a new model of relations between two powers of distinct ambition and international importance. In addition, they complement each other well enough to work together in a continent where they are the greatest leaders.

Obama confessed that for some time he had been a great admirer of Lula. The Brazilian president returned the compliment expressing that since Obama had become president, he prays more for him than himself, because he has never known another case where a new president has had to face so many enormous difficulties in only fifty days. “I would not want to be in his position,” admitted Lula.

“This is a great opportunity for the United States to build an important relationship with Brazil, one that is not only based on the diplomatic challenges, but also the challenges they face in the region and in the world, explained the Assistant Secretary of State for Latin America, Thomas Shannon.

The case of Cuba is among the first to be analyzed among the regional challenges. Although neither president mentioned the problem of Cuba in the press conference yesterday, sources from both countries have coincided in the commitment of working together in the search of an initiative towards Cuba before the summit in Trinidad.

The North American administration has started moving swiftly in this direction. Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Latin America at the end of March to discuss with the leaders of various countries, among other things, the best options for opening dialogue between Washington and Havana. In the same vein, Obama spoke Friday on the telephone with the president of Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. At the same time, Jeffrey Davidow, a veteran diplomat in Latin American relations, has been named advisor to the White House in preparation of the summit.

In any case, the alliance that the United States and Brazil hope to gain isThe alliance that the United States and Brazil seems to hope to gain, in every case, is to get beyond the problem of Cuba or other problems in the region, including the conflict between Washington and the Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. Yesterday, Lula expressed his hope also to collaborate with Obama in Africa and in the reforms they required to reinstate better conditions for the world economy. As Obama says about the United States, Lula referred to the crisis yesterday as an opportunity for the creation of a new model.

The first appointment in this mission will be the summit in London. Lula, who spent the majority of his time in the joint press conference –admitted that the Latin Americans speak too much-, he said that the leaders of the G-20 could not leave the meeting without an agreement that permits to restore the credibility of the institutions and of the governments so that the credit can flow again in all of the markets.

Obama made the best of his appearance in order to try and contribute to the credibility and to deny what some considered a misunderstanding. As a response to the expressed fears by the government of China over the security of their investments of around a trillion dollars in the North American Treasury, Obama said that China and any other investor can be sure of the reliability of its deposits due to the extraordinary stability of the economic system and policies of the United States.

The American president also assured that sides do not exist before the G-20 meeting. He expressed that Europe and the United States are not meeting over the need for new stimulus packages. He said that it cannot be asked of all these countries to put in the same level of effort and that the stimulus plans are only tools that are required for economic recovery.

Allies of the United States:

-Bilateral relations, the financial crisis, Cuba and Venezuela was the focus between the meeting of Obama and Lula.

-Since he assumed the presidency in 2003, Lula has been one of the greatest Latin American allies of the United States, together with Mexico, Colombia and Chile.

-Lula, Mexican President Felipe Calderón and Colombian President Álvaro Uribe are the main regional negotiators for Obama.

-Obama met with Calderón on January 18th, two days before he took office, and has spoken on the telephone with Uribe.