Renata Giraldi Reporter Agencia Brasil

Brasília – The recently elected president of Chile, the millionaire businessman and right-wing politician, Sebastian Piñera, arrived in Brazil yesterday and spent the day in São Paulo. He spoke with leaders at the São Paulo Manufacturers Federation (Fiesp), asking them to participate in the reconstruction of Chile where there was a powerful earthquake followed by tsunamis in February.
Today he has a busy political day in Brasilia that will include visits to the leaders of the Congress and Supreme Court and conversations with president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The two presidents will sign an agreement on cooperation in sports.
Opposition leaders in Brazil are eager to talk to Piñera because he faced a situation similar to the one they face in this year’s general elections. That is, they are running against the handpicked successor of a very popular president. In Chile it was Michelle Brachelet (80% approval ratings), but Piñera, the opposition candidate, won. Brazilian right-wing parties would like to do the same to Lula. The former mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Cesar Maia, who lived in Chile as a political exile in the 1970s, says Brazilian politicians have a lot to learn from Piñera.

Allen Bennett - translator/editor The News in English