Lula: Marco Rubio is 'anti-Latin American' and doesn't like Brazil

Speaking about the Trump administration's use of the destruction of the Amazon as a justification for imposing new tariffs against Brazil, Lula said: "Then I'm going to ask them to put the numbers [on deforestation reduction] up again. I want to take a photo to send to Trump," Lula added, stating that the meetings he's had to date with the Republican have been very good.

"Now, he has a citizen who doesn't like Brazil, who doesn't like Latin America and who is a Bolsonarista, who is the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio", continued the president. "He's an anti-Latin American, or a frustrated Latin American, because he left Cuba - his grandfather, his great-grandfather are from there, but he never lived in Cuba, he's from Miami."

In fact, Rubio is the son of Cubans: his parents immigrated to the USA in 1956, a few years before Fidel Castro came to power. They were trying to escape the economic crisis that was plaguing the island in the last years of Fulgêncio Batista's dictatorship. According to the republican, his family had no possessions - his father was a waiter, and his mother was a supermarket cashier.

Rubio's grandfather fled the communist regime in 1962. He entered American territory without a valid visa, was arrested and received a deportation order that was never carried out. In 1966, like all Cubans in the US at the time, their immigration status was legalized by the Lyndon Johnson government, which opened the country's doors to dissidents and Cubans who left the country after Fidel's victory.

This Friday, Lula said that Rubio "hates Cuba, hates Colombia, hates Brazil." "He does different things from what we talk about with Trump," said the president, adding: "Brazil does not have a veto against the USA, it does not have a preference for China, nor for France. Brazil wants to work with everyone on an equal footing. What we do not want is for Brazil to become a mere exporter of wealth that is not ours, it belongs to the people."