Brazilian leader Lula rekindles ties with Cuba at G77 summit in Havana

By ELÉONORE HUGHES
Associate Press

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has met with his Cuban counterpart in Havana. The meeting signals a revitalization of ties between the two countries in the first trip by a Brazilian president to the Caribbean nation in nine years. Lula was in Havana for the summit of the Group of 77 emerging economies plus China. The group, founded in the 1960s, is meeting in Cuba just days ahead of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Addressing the summit Friday, Lula lamented the U.S.-led embargo of Cuba. He says the island “is the victim of an illegal economic embargo. Brazil is against any unilateral coercive measure.”