Meeting coincides with the moment Brazil lives a direct clash with the US, whose decisions were seen by the government as punishment and interference with sovereignty in Brazil and will be discussed in Santiago
The president travels to a political bias meeting on Monday (21), the front of Ibero-American left-wing leaders, critics of the advancement of “extremism”, especially in a digital environment, but now has the background of Donald Trump’s offensive. The trip coincides with the moment Brazil lives a direct clash with the US, whose decisions were seen by the Lula government as punishment and interference with sovereignty in Brazil and will be discussed at the Santiago meeting. Lula should discuss in Chile the “use of tariffs as a weapon” for political-electoral purposes in the country, the role of radical right rulers in the region and proposals for taxation of big techs, joint digital governance and artificial intelligence.
The Brazilian government has been discussing how to tax Big Techs since 2023 as a regulatory form, but the measure now has gained new impetus in light of the clash with Trump and the threats of resorting to reciprocity. A government -based government member said Lula will address Trump’s letter with 50% tariffs demanding the end of lawsuits in Brazil to benefit ally Jair Bolsonaro and American companies. The threat is seen in the Planalto Palace as “one of the most explicit attacks on Brazilian democracy.” In addition to Lula and Chilean host, Gabriel Boric, the meeting will be attended by the presidents of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, Uruguay, Yamandú Orsi, and the Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez.
Absence
Boric also phoned to invite Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum, also affected by Trump, but she is not on the confirmed list. Planned since last year, the new meeting of progressive presidents has faced schedule difficulties among them. The five had agreed the meeting during a video conferencing held in late February, in the context of growing political fragmentation and polarization, from Trump’s decisions that took office in January, such as mass deportations, and the proliferation of misinformation. At the time, they pledged to discuss actions against “malicious use of social networks and other digital technologies that feed extremism and polarization.
Sánchez cited the danger of foreign interference campaigns he proposed three measures: establishing pseudonyms system, so that anonymity is not an impunity tool, but to protect privacy and eliminate false profiles; Transparency in the algorithms so that public authorities can examine the platforms without limitations, for content moderation purposes; Personal liability of network owners and executives for legal violations that occur on their platforms. According to the presidency of Chile, the five heads of state and government will discuss a shared agenda in defense of “multilateralism, democracy and global cooperation based on social justice”. The three axes of debates will be: strengthening of democracy and multilateralism; Reduction of inequalities; and fight against misinformation and regulation of emerging technologies.
Posted by Luisa Cardoso
*With information from Estadão Content
