Biden will visit the Amazon rainforest as part of a six-day trip to Latin America

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will become the first sitting president to visit the Amazon rainforest later this month Brazil as part of a six-day trip to Latin America for a pair of international summits, the White House said Thursday.

Biden will begin his trip with a Nov. 14-16 visit to Lima, Peru, where he will meet with the president Dina Boluarte and attending the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit. From there he will travel to Manaus and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil from November 17 to 19.

In Manaus, Biden will visit the rainforest and meet with local, indigenous and other leaders working to conserve the region, the first visit by a US president. Biden will meet with the Brazilian president in Rio de Janeiro Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to promote workers’ rights and clean economic growth, the White House said. He will also attend the Group of 20 summit of world leaders to discuss global challenges such as hunger, poverty and climate change.

Biden spoke with Lula earlier Thursday to discuss the upcoming G20 summit. It may also have been a chance for Biden to commiserate with a sympathetic world leader.

The left-wing Lula made clear his preference for Democrat Kamala Harris prior to the American elections. Lula defeated far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was known as ‘Trump of the tropics’, in 2022.

Biden is in the final months of his presidency and will hand the Oval Office to Republican Donald Trump. The two summits will give Biden one of his last opportunities as president to meet with the heads of state he has worked with in recent years.

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