Brazil's Lula cancels trip to BRICS following accident
October 20, 2024
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday canceled his trip to Russia for the BRICS summit after an accident at home.
Lula sustained a cut on the back of his head above the neck a day earlier, news websites such as G1 and CNN Brasil reported, citing a medical note distributed by the presidential office.
The president "was advised to avoid long-distance air travel but is otherwise able to carry out his regular duties," a medical report from the Sirio Libanes Hospital in Brasilia said.
The report said Lula had suffered a laceration to the "occipital region" in the back of his head.
G1 reported that Brazil's president now has five stitches because of the accident.
Two doctors from the hospital are set to regularly check on Lula's recovery, the report added.
The 78-year-old leader was scheduled to attend a summit of the BRICS bloc of fast-growing economies in the Russian city of Kazan, which runs from Tuesday to Thursday.
The president's office said the leftist leader will now participate in the talks via video link.
BRICS grows members, seeks more power
BRICS has grown from its original founding states — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, which make up the acronym — and now includes Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Several other countries are also keen to join.
Moscow has made expanding the BRICS group a pillar of its foreign policy.
The Kremlin hopes BRICS will challenge Western "hegemony" and create a multipolar world made up of rising powers like China and India.
The United States has dismissed the idea that BRICS could become a "geopolitical rival."
The BRICS talks are expected to focus on Putin's idea for a BRICS-led payment system to rival SWIFT, an international financial network that Russian banks were cut off from in 2022, as well as the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are scheduled to attend the summit.
NATO member Turkey, with ties to both Moscow and the West, announced in early September that it also wanted to join the bloc.
Russia has said it is expecting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend as well.
mm/jcg (AFP, dpa, Reuters)