MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula looks fit at Alvorada Palace after domestic accident

Lula met with Celso Amorim at the Alvorada Palace

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was reported to have been very active Monday at the Alvorada Palace following Saturday's domestic accident that prevented him from traveling to the BRICS Summit starting Tuesday in Kazan, Russia.

Lula held a meeting with Foreign Affairs Advisor Celson Amorim. “We reveiewed the national and international agenda for the coming days,” Lula explained. Foreign Minister Mauro Viera was representing Brazil at Kazan, where the head of state will nevertheless be participating telematically. Before departing, Vieira conferred with Lula on Sunday.

Lula slipped while in the bathroom on Saturday and hit his head, which required him to wear five stitches. Although at no point did he lose consciousness, he was rushed to the Sírio Libanês Hospital, where physicians advised him against long-haul air travel. The first medical also mentioned a “blunt injury in the occipital region.” After the incident, Lula's personal physician Doctor Roberto Khalil assisted him through the procedures Saturday and also Sunday when he returned to the hospital for further testing after staying the night at home.

Institutional Relations Minister Alexandre Padilha said that “at no time, did [Lula] have any kind of loss of conscience or disorientation” during his encounter with Amorim, who has also served as Foreign Minister in Lula's previous presidencies.

It is yet unknown whether Lula will be flying to Cali, Colombia, for the the United Nations conference on Biodiversity (COP16). The president is, on the other hand, expected to vote in Sao Paulo's municipal runoff next Sunday.

“I want to send a message of tranquility, that the trip was canceled by medical decision to maintain this observation, to avoid a very long trip, it is several hours of travel to where the Brics meeting is, I was going to work in a different time zone,” Padilha was quoted by Agencia Brasil as saying.

Meanwhile, in Kazan, BRICS leaders plan to discuss the mechanism for granting membership to the group, which is made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -hence its acronym- as well as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Iran. The bloc represents almost half of the world's population, 40% of global oil production and around 25% of goods exports. Argentina had already been slated to join on Jan. 1 this year under former President Alberto Fernández but in the end declined the opportunity once Javier Milei's Libertarian administration took over on Dec. 10, 2023.

Although still not a member, Venezuela is represented at Kazan by Executive Vice President Delcy Rodríguez and Foreign Minister Yván Gil. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres would be participating, according to some uncorroborated reports.