Mandela's first visit was during the Collor administration.

Alagoas247 "We were almost killed by so much love." With visible good humor and fatigue, Nelson Mandela summed up his first visit to Brazil in 1991, when he was received by then-President Fernando Collor. The African leader spent five days in the country, visiting Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Espírito Santo, São Paulo, and Bahia. The trip, with a tight schedule, included a concert for thousands of people at Praça da Apoteose. "Now I'm ready to meet Holyfield or Mike Tyson," he added jokingly.

Brazil met Mandela at two different moments in his life: on his first visit, he was a recently released man seeking international support on his path to the presidency of a South Africa marked by racial division. Years later, he was the country's first black president to arrive in Brasília, on his honeymoon from his third marriage. On both occasions, Brazil celebrated Madiba with samba, capoeira, and afoxé music.

Mandela's first visit to Brazil took place in August 1991, a year after the anti-apartheid leader was released from prison. The trip, undertaken at the beginning of the negotiation process that would lead to his candidacy in the 1994 South African elections, had two objectives. Besides garnering international support for something revolutionary – the candidacy of a black man for the presidency – the president of the African National Congress party had another purpose: to ask Collor for support in maintaining sanctions against the country – "until apartheid no longer exists and everyone has the right to vote," he said at the time.

In Rio, in addition to authorities, Mandela was greeted by a crowd of 40 people. At Praça da Apoteose, they sang "Sob o sol de Johannesburgo" (Under the Johannesburg Sun), composed for him by Martinho da Vila. Mandela also participated in a symbolic reopening of the CIEP (Integrated Public Education Center) that bears his name, in Campo Grande, alongside his second wife, Winnie.

"When I see their faces, I feel at home, because the mix of the population is like ours. And we welcome this fact, because miscegenation enriches the country," Mandela said in Rio.

The second visit, in July 1998, brought Mandela, already an outgoing president, older and on his honeymoon, just two days after his wedding to Graça Machel, widow of the Mozambican president Samora Machel. It was a visit of only three days. The Brazilian government wanted more events, but at the time, Mandela, already 80 years old, requested a more relaxed schedule. He met with then-President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and received a delegation from the Workers' Party at the hotel, led by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He would meet again years later with Lula, who was then president of Brazil.

"Our active roles in our respective regions, as well as our shared vision on world trade, the restructuring of the United Nations and South-South cooperation, makes us natural partners in efforts to transform our continents into centers of growth and prosperity in the next millennium," Mandela said at the Alvorada Palace.

With Gazetaweb.com and Agencies