Bolsonaro 2-for-4 in New York, meeting with leaders of Ecuador and Poland

Brazil and Poland signed two agreements on Tuesday. Photo: Alan Santos/PR

President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday met with the presidents of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, and Poland, Andrzej Duda, while in New York for the UN General Assembly.

Brazil and Poland signed two agreements. One on the exchange and mutual protection of classified information and the other on the elimination of double taxation on income and the prevention of tax evasion.

Yesterday, Under Secretary for Multilateral Political Affairs Paulino Franco de Carvalho Neto said at a briefing with reporters that Mr. Bolsonaro could also have sitdowns with Guatemala’s Alejandro Giammattei and Serbia’s Aleksandar Vučić, but a Foreign Ministry spokesperson today said conflicting schedules prevented those meetings from going ahead.

Mr. Giammattei is to address the UN General Assembly today. On Monday, he held a bilateral meeting with Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez. Mr. Vučić has already arrived in the U.S. and will address the General Assembly tomorrow.

The Brazilian president left Brazil during the final stretch of the presidential campaign despite trailing behind in the polls. One of the goals of his trip abroad was to counter the perception that he is an international pariah.

However, he only managed to confirm meetings with right-wing leaders of countries that trade very little with Brazil. Brazilian diplomacy said a tight schedule prevented more meetings from being organised as Mr. Bolsonaro returns to Brazil on Tuesday.

The Foreign Ministry has yet to issue statements on the bilateral meetings between Mr. Bolsonaro and the presidents of Ecuador and Poland, which have already taken place.

In May 2021, the Brazilian president attended Mr. Lasso’s inauguration, in Quito. A few days earlier, he had tweeted that Mr. Lasso’s victory would “strengthen our struggle to defend democracy and freedom in [Latin America].”

On several occasions, President Bolsonaro has commented on elections in neighboring countries —consistently expressing support for right-wing candidates.

Mr. Bolsonaro’s last meeting with Andrzej Duda was at side-talks during last year’s UN General Assembly. Like Mr. Bolsonaro, the Polish far-right leader is an opponent of LGBTQ rights, and a supporter of what both men call “family values.”