In Mercosur, Lula says he will run for re-election to 'guarantee' democracy in Brazil

In Mercosur, Lula says he will run for re-election to 'guarantee' democracy in Brazil
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) stated, during a summit of Mercosur leaders, that he will seek re-election in October this year to "guarantee" democracy in Brazil.
The PT member made the statement during an impromptu speech in Asunción, after reading a speech with an institutional tone about relations between Mercosur countries; and the bloc with other countries and economic groups.
"I will run in the elections to ensure that the country remains a democratic country," said Lula.
The president said that democracy was once again threatened worldwide, mentioning coup attempts, including in Brazil.
Lula will seek a fourth term as president in Brazil in this year's elections. The PT member should have as his main opponent Flávio Bolsonaro (RJ), son of Jair Bolsonaro who is a pre-candidate for PL.
Mercosur is a South American regional economic bloc created in 1991, currently made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia, with the aim of promoting economic and customs integration, and the free circulation of goods, services and productive factors between member countries.
The president of Brazil commented on the 35 years of Mercosur, stating that the creation of the bloc was a response to the authoritarian past in the region.
During the speech, Lula defended integration between Mercosur countries above the ideological positions of each president.
"Mercosur cannot function according to the election of this or that president. Otherwise, we will never have a strong functioning bloc. It will never be able to transform into an economic bloc with great vitality", said the PT member.
"Believe me, regardless of who is elected in Brazil, Mercosur will continue to be a priority. I want to ask for an effort in these six months to consolidate Mercosur's support institutions so that it functions regardless of who was elected president of the countries in our bloc", added Lula.
Without mentioning the advance of right-wing parties in South America, the PT member said that Mercosur is the "best institutional option" in a polarized region. And that "nobody owns" the continent.
In addition to Lula, this Tuesday's bloc meeting was attended by the presidents of Paraguay, Santiago Peña; Uruguay, Yamandú Orsi; from Chile, José Antonio Kast; and from Ecuador, Daniel Noboa.
The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, who is Lula's political opponent, claimed local commitments in the neighboring country and did not attend the meeting of heads of state.
'No one owns South America', says Lula during Mercosur
Bolsonaro family ally, Milei, who met with Flávio this Monday (29), sent Chancellor Pablo Quirino as a representative to the Mercosur meeting.
PIX in Mercosur
Still in the speech, Lula proposed sharing experiences in artificial intelligence and suggested that the architecture of PIX, Brazil's instant payments system, serve as a basis for a common payments infrastructure in Mercosur.
The PT member said that the objective of creating this tool would be to reduce costs and expand the use of local currencies.
Tribute to Venezuela
During this Tuesday's meeting, Mercosur leaders held a minute of silence in honor of the victims of two earthquakes in Venezuela last week. The act was proposed by Lula, at the beginning of his speech at the 68th Summit of Mercosur presidents.
The official death toll following the earthquakes in Venezuela reached 1,719 this Tuesday, but continues to rise.
Thousands of people are missing and homeless. When speaking at the Mercosur meeting, Lula mentioned the victims and asked for cooperation between countries.
In his speech, Lula defended the creation of a fund for natural disasters in South America. He said that the fund is a "strategic necessity" for countries in the region and proposed a South American mechanism for dealing with natural disasters and financing climate adaptation.
The president also mentioned the impact of wars, such as instability and rising food and energy prices.
Lula arrives in Paraguay and congratulates the country for playing in the World Cup
The president presented data on the bloc's economic evolution. He said that internal trade jumped from US$4.5 billion in 1991 to US$50 billion in 2025.
He cited the ratification of trade agreements with Singapore and Europe, in addition to the advancement of dialogues with Canada, India and Vietnam.
The PT member mentioned that Mercosur will launch negotiations for an economic partnership with Japan at this summit and that he intends to seek the same rapprochement with China soon.
Lula during a speech at the Brazil Summit Mercosur in Paraguay
Reproduction

Source: G1