The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, will participate in the celebrations of the bicentennial of the independence of Brazil, where he will be between Tuesday and Friday, with a program in Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro.
Augusto Santos Silva, the second figure of the Portuguese state, will also be in Brasilia for the celebrations of the bicentennial of Brazilian independence, at the invitation of the president of the Brazilian Federal Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco.
According to a note released this Monday about this visit by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will attend the civic-military parade on September 7 in Brasilia —the day that marks the proclamation of the independence of Portugal in 1822— and will be in a solemn session in commemoration of this historic date, in the National Congress, where he will speak on Thursday.
In the Brazilian capital, the head of state will also visit the exhibition “Burning Heart: Life and Legacy of Don Pedro I”, at the Itamaraty Palace, reads this brief two-paragraph note.
According to the same note, in Brazil, in addition to the institutional program, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa “will hold meetings with the Portuguese community of Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro, in the latter city with a reception at the Navio Escola Sagres.”
In the letter he sent to the Assembly of the Republic about this trip, in July, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa mentioned that he would go to Brazil “on an official visit, to participate in the celebrations of the bicentennial of the independence of that countrynext September 7”, at the invitation of his Brazilian counterpart, Jair Bolsonaro.
These celebrations take place when the official campaign for the election of the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil is underway, scheduled for October 2, with a possible second round on October 30, which includes, among others, Jair Bolsonaro and Lula da Silva. Silva candidates.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was in Brazil two months ago, between July 2 and 4, with stops in Rio de Janeiro, where he commemorated the centenary of the first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic, and in São Paulo, for the opening of the Bienal do Livro, which in this year’s edition had Portugal as the honored country.
That visit was scheduled to end in Brasilia, with a lunch with the president of Brazil, but Jair Bolsonaro announced through the media that he would no longer receive him, a decision he justified by the fact that Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had met. with the former head of the Brazilian State Lula da Silva in São Paulo.
Faced with Bolsonaro’s attitude, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa began maintaining his program, waiting for a written communication, and then gave up going to Brasilia, but always downplaying this episode and its impact on bilateral relations.
At the same time, he took for granted his return to Brazil in September for the celebrations of the 200 years of independence: “The Senate has already invited me to be the guest speaker. But the president of the Portuguese parliament is coming with me. [Augusto Santos Silva]and the Government will come with me, to demonstrate that the sovereign bodies will all be here at this fundamental moment”, he declared then.
Source: Observadora
