Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is expected to sit down with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Monday, the day before he delivers the opening address at the United Nations General Assembly, according to Brazilian news outlets.
Lula landed in New York on Sunday night at the head of a 73-person delegation that includes First Lady Rosângela “Janja” Lula da Silva, four ministers, and dozens of other government officials, the reports said. He is scheduled to speak first at the high-level debate on Tuesday, a slot Brazil has held since its delegation opened the first-ever General Assembly debate after World War II. President Donald Trump is expected to address the assembly after him.
Mamdani Requested the Meeting
CNN Brasil and the left-wing Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo reported that Mamdani asked for the encounter, which is expected to take place Monday morning at the official residence of Brazil’s ambassador to the U.N. in New York, where Lula is staying. The timing would put the two leaders together roughly 24 hours before Lula’s U.N. speech.
Groups within Brazil’s ruling Workers’ Party (PT) have in the past described Mamdani as a politician with the “potential” to renew leftism on a global scale, according to CNN Brasil. An unnamed Brazilian government official told the outlet that a warming of ties between Lula and Mamdani could create “friction” with Trump at a moment when both countries are engaged in delicate trade negotiations.
Lula is also expected to hold several other meetings at the ambassador’s residence, including what Folha described as a “confirmed” sit-down with Sanders on Monday evening. The Vermont senator has a long record of engagement with Brazilian politics, having strongly opposed the 2016 impeachment of former President Dilma Rousseff and Lula’s own corruption conviction and imprisonment in 2019. Folha framed that history as support for “democracy and progressivism in Brazil.” Sanders has been far less vocal about the wave of repression against conservative voices in Brazil after Lula’s victory, including the imprisonment of former President Jair Bolsonaro, the report noted.
No Trump Meeting on the Schedule
Globonews reported Monday that Lula is not expected to meet with Trump during his stay in New York. The outlet did not rule out the possibility that the two heads of state could cross paths on the sidelines of Tuesday’s debates, as they did in 2025.
Before his sit-down with Mamdani, Lula is scheduled to meet with Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi. Both leaders are among the last democratically elected leftists still governing in South America, a region that has shifted rightward over the past year with the elections of Javier Milei in Argentina, José Antonio Kast in Chile, Abelardo de la Espriella in Colombia, and, most recently, Keiko Fujimori in Peru.
In addition to his Tuesday speech, Lula is expected to meet with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres on the sidelines of that day’s official agenda, according to the reports.
A Quick Return to a Tight Race
UOL reported that Lula will head back to Brazil shortly after delivering his Tuesday address to concentrate on the October 4 presidential election, where he is seeking a fourth term. Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira will represent Brazil at other U.N.-related events through the rest of the week.
The October 4 ballot will feature 13 candidates, and no one is expected to clear the threshold to win outright in the first round. Most polls project a runoff between Lula and conservative Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of the former president. Recent surveys show Lula’s once comfortable lead has “evaporated” in recent weeks, with the two candidates now described as “technically tied” — setting up a razor-thin contest in a prospective second round.
The trip places Lula at the center of two overlapping storylines: the U.N.’s annual diplomatic showcase and a reelection fight that has tightened considerably since he last addressed the assembly. It also puts him in the same city as Trump at a time when Washington and Brasília are negotiating trade terms, though the two leaders are not currently slated to meet face to face.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/latin-america/2026/09/21/reports-brazils-lula-da-silva-to-meet-with-zohran-mamdani-bernie-sanders-in-new-york/