‘They want to colonize us again’, says Lula about rare earths dispute

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took advantage of the meeting of the Celac-Africa Summit of Heads of State and Government, which takes place this Saturday, in Bogotá, to defend rare earths from the interest of rich countries. He highlighted that countries like Brazil were already colonized, gained sovereignty and cannot simply become exporters of raw materials.

— We are no longer colonized countries. We gained sovereignty with our independence. We cannot allow someone to interfere and harm the territorial integrity of each country — said the president in the speech citing Bolivia, Venezuela, Cuba.

Rare earths are a group of 17 chemical elements used in the manufacture of permanent magnets, batteries, wind turbines, semiconductors, catalysts, electronic equipment and military technologies. Despite the name, they are not necessarily scarce in nature, but their extraction and processing are complex, expensive and environmentally sensitive.

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— They took almost everything from Bolivia. Now that Bolivia has critical minerals, it’s Bolivia’s chance, it’s Africa’s chance, it’s Latin America’s chance to not accept being just an exporter of minerals for them. In other words, whoever wants to come and settle and produce in the country. So that we have the chance to develop our countries — highlighted the president.

Known rare earth reserves in Brazil have an estimated value equivalent to 186% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — almost twice the size of the Brazilian economy. The calculation is from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), made based on international prices and 2024 GDP values. The data places Brazil in a prominent position in the new global dispute for critical minerals, strategic inputs for batteries, wind turbines, semiconductors, electronic equipment and technologies linked to the energy transition and artificial intelligence.

When speaking at the Celac summit, Lula stated that it is “time to raise our heads” and allow countries to be colonized once again.

— They want to colonize us again. We need to raise our heads. It’s not possible for someone to think they own other countries — he said — They took almost everything from Bolivia. Now that Bolivia has critical minerals, it’s Bolivia’s chance, it’s Africa’s chance, it’s Latin America’s chance to not accept being just an exporter of minerals for them. In other words, whoever wants to come and settle and produce in the country. So that we have the chance to develop our countries — highlighted the president.

In February this year, the United States government invited Brazil to join a new international coalition focused on the supply, mining and refining of critical minerals. The proposal presented by Washington involves partnerships to guarantee access to inputs such as lithium, graphite, copper, nickel and rare earths, in addition to the creation of minimum price mechanisms, with the aim of offering greater predictability to the market and reducing volatility.

At the time, Brazil participated in a meeting in the USA where the main topic was critical minerals. The American government’s plans were presented by Vice President JD Vance. There is no position from the Brazilian government on possible membership of the group. An interlocutor with access to the negotiations stated that, at this moment, the Lula government is still bringing together technical and political elements to assess the scope of the invitation and its strategic implications.

The initiative is part of a broader geopolitical context, marked by the US attempt to reduce the weight of China, which today holds a dominant position not only in mining, but above all in the global refining of these strategic minerals.

In Brasília, the approach has been cautious. The Brazilian government emphasizes its refusal to play the role of mere exporter of raw materials and maintains that any agreement in this field must be associated with the development of the country’s value chain, with investments in refining, processing and adding value to domestic production.