President Biden’s expressed support for democracy in Latin America will be tested Friday, when President Lula da Silva visits the White House while back home his government is bolstering its relations with the region’s dictators, as well as Communist China, Russia, and the Islamic Republic of Iran.  

Following the January 8 attacks on Brasilia’s democratic institutions, Mr. Biden invited Mr. da Silva for a meeting that was designed to promote “inclusion and democratic values in the region.” Mr. da Silva, however, has spent the time since his inauguration on January 1 cultivating ties with America’s adversaries.

These include Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro, Communist China’s Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and even Tehran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. While tensions rise between Washington and Beijing in the aftermath of the spy balloon affair and the subsequent cancellation of Secretary Blinken’s Beijing trip, Mr. da Silva said he would refuse to discuss Communist China with Mr. Biden.

The Brazilian president is uninterested in talking to his American counterpart on the topic because he disagrees with Washington about “the risk that China represents,” the director of strategy of a Brazilian-based consulting firm, Arko Advice, Thiago de Aragao, said.

Last week, Mr. da Silva announced that the southern common market alliance, Mercosur, will promote a plan alongside Communist China to open South American trade to other regions. “We want to sit down as Mercosur and discuss with our Chinese friends the Mercosur-China agreement,” Mr. da Silva said.

Earlier this year the Brazilian president said that Beijing wants to further increase cooperation between the two countries. “I received from China’s Vice President Wang Qishan a letter from President Xi Jinping, expressing his compliments and willingness to expand our cooperation,” Mr. da Silva said, adding that China is Brazil’s biggest trading partner.

Mr. da Silva “sees China as a viable and strong commercial partner,” Mr. de Aragao said, adding that relations between Mr. da Silva’s Workers Party and Beijing started in the 1980s “and have sustained a very strong relationship ever since.”

Since his inauguration Mr. da Silva has vowed to side with countries that are not democratic. Last month he asked members of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, known as Celcac, to treat with “much affection” the region’s dictatorships, including Venezuela and Cuba.  

Mr. da Silva is “painted as the democracy saver,” the director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Ryan Berg, says. Yet, he adds, Mr. Biden could use their meeting to question Mr. da Silva’s close ties with the “very dictatorial regimes in Caracas, in Managua, in Havana, and elsewhere.” 

During the Celcac summit, Mr. da Silva referred to the establishment of diplomatic relations between Brasilia and Caracas, which were severed during President Bolsonaro’s presidency. “Venezuela’s problems will be resolved with dialogue and not with a blockade,” Mr. da Silva said. Referencing American sanctions, he added that “Venezuela will once again be treated normally, as all countries want to be treated.” 

Mr. da Silva wants to “strengthen bilateral relations, consistent with the historical friendship ties between our peoples,” the Cuban president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, said after the two met at Buenos Aires. The Brazilian expressed his hope that America’s “60-year-long blockade against Cuba finally ends” and Cuba can “return to a normal development process.”

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Mr. da Silva founded the Sao Paulo Forum, which intended to establish a communist agenda in the region. The forum still exists and includes Mexico’s Lopez Obrador, Argentina’s Fernandez, Colombia’s Petro, Chile’s Boric, Nicaragua’s Ortega, and Mr. Maduro. Those leaders care more about allying with America’s foes than the promotion of democracy. 

Last week Mr. da Silva conducted a press conference at Brasilia with Chancellor Scholz of Germany to announce a Brazilian trade deal with the European Union. The event turned sour when the Brazilian president rejected his guest’s request to support Ukraine, and implied that Kyiv was responsible for Russia’s invasion. 

“If one doesn’t want to, two can’t fight,” Mr. da Silva said. He then said the reason for the war “needs to be clearer” to the world: “Is it because of NATO? Is it because of territorial claims? Is it because of entry into Europe? The world has little information about that.” 

Moscow’s ally, Tehran, is also hoping for improved ties with Brazil. Following Lula’s October 30 election victory, a spokesman with the Islamic Republic’s foreign ministry, Nasser Kanaani, expressed hope that relations, which have always been based on “goodwill” and “respect,” will expand under Mr. da Silva’s presidency.

During Mr. da Silva’s first presidential term between 2003 and 2010, Brazil strengthened its political and economic relations with Iran. Mr. da Silva invested in Tehran’s oil sector and sealed a nuclear fuel swap between Turkey, Iran, and Brazil.
The Iranian ambassador to Brazil told CNN recently that Tehran intends to resume negotiations paused in 2017 to buy Embraer commercial planes from Brazil if Mr. Biden lifts the sanctions imposed by President Trump.