President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva opens the general debate of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday (Sept. 22), speaking minutes before U.S. President Donald Trump. Aides told g1 that he plans to build the speech around wars, national sovereignty and democracy as a counterpoint to the American leader.
The debate runs through Sept. 28 at a time of the deepest credibility crisis the UN has faced in decades. Secretary-General António Guterres, who leaves office this year after two terms, is expected to appeal for the organization's own survival as it faces budget cuts and attacks led by Trump, according to g1. In the Security Council, Russia vetoes resolutions on Ukraine while the United States blocks Middle East texts, leaving the body paralyzed, as Américo Martins, senior international analyst at CNN Brasil, summarized. Several leaders arrive with domestic elections on their minds: Trump faces the congressional midterms in November, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu contests an election in October. Speeches by Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela's new leader, are also awaited. In the race to succeed Guterres, Chile's Michelle Bachelet, backed by Brazil and Mexico, dropped out for lack of Security Council support, and two candidates from the Americas now stand out, Rebecca Grynspan of Costa Rica and Carolyn Birkett of Guyana, according to CNN Brasil.
For Brazil, the speech serves two purposes. Lula's reelection campaign wants to use the stage to cast him as a statesman in contrast with Trump, a supporter of his main rival, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro; campaign members believe the image can appeal to undecided voters weeks before Brazil's October presidential election, according to g1. Lula arrived in the United States on Sunday (20) and spent Monday (21) on final edits to the text with his international advisory team and in meetings with allies. Brazil speaks first under a tradition dating to 1955: after Guterres and Assembly President Annalena Baerbock of Germany, the podium goes to Brazil and then to the United States as host country.
Speech themes: multilateralism and UN reform
The central theme will be the erosion of multilateralism. Lula plans to argue that weaker cooperation among countries has concrete effects on people's lives in security and peace, the climate emergency, health, trade and national sovereignty. He is also expected to criticize the UN itself and renew his call to reform the Security Council, whose five permanent members (the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom and France) hold veto power. In the president's view, the direct or indirect involvement of the United States and Russia in wars strips the council of its ability to prevent conflict; he wants the body expanded with permanent seats for Japan, Germany, South Africa and Brazil itself.
Messages on sovereignty
Lula is not expected to name Trump or the United States, but the speech will carry messages, according to g1 sources, not only for Washington but also for other countries the Brazilian government believes are trying to influence the national election, such as Argentina and Israel. To the president's team, the United States poses the biggest external threat to his reelection, mainly because it is home to the big tech companies. The address should also touch on threats to sovereignty in Latin America, such as the capture of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela early this year, and run through traditional lines of Brazilian diplomacy: peace negotiations, noninterference in domestic affairs, international humanitarian law, the fight against organized crime, the environment and artificial intelligence.
Lula rehearsed the contrast on Monday in an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, when he again called Trump an emperor.
"Trump was elected to be president of the United States. He has the right to govern for the United States, but he has no right to govern other countries. He has no right to impose his will."