Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, during an electoral act in August. Victor Moriyama (Bloomberg)
For the Brazilian left, former president Dilma Rousseff has the bittersweet taste of a war wound.
She hurts and, at the same time, makes her proud.
Her government is associated with the economic crisis, corruption and, above all, the
impeachment
that evicted her from power.
She is also a symbol, for many, of the fight for democracy and she enjoys the respect of her political godfather and today her candidate, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Her presence in the electoral race has reflected that uncomfortable ambiguity.
Although Rousseff has had a secondary role during the campaign, a return to power of the left would mean a kind of rehabilitation for what she was the most recent representative of her with a presidential sash.
At the beginning of the campaign, analysts predicted that Lula would keep Rousseff at bay.
After all, the former president's approval rating fell to an abysmal 8% during her second term, marked by the severe recession and the
Lava Jato
case
, a corruption scheme that implicated prominent figures from the ruling party.
the
impeachment
in 2016 it was a humiliating episode.
Three quarters of the senators, some of them former allies of hers, voted in favor of condemning her for making up the public accounts.
“In my life I have suffered two coups.
The one with the dictatorship and this one,” said a somber woman who was persecuted and tortured by the military regime in the 1970s. Two years later, voters still hadn't forgiven her, and she lost an election for the Senate against a virtually unknown rival.
Despite the bad taste in the mouth that this period left, Rousseff has never totally disappeared from the political scene, and has maintained her closeness to Lula da Silva during the six years of crossing the desert of the Workers' Party.
The journalist Mauricio Savarese, who interviewed her three times for his book
About her The fall of Dilma
, highlights her loyalty.
"I always wanted to know if she had any criticism of Lula but, if she does, I reserve it for those who are very close to me," says the author.
Rousseff, considered a technocrat without great charisma when she was elevated to the Presidency, is today one of the personalities most cheered by the followers of the Workers' Party.
At a recent event in the city of Porto Alegre, in the south of the country, she sat in the front row next to the candidate and his wife, Janja.
Between cries of "Dilma, Dilma!", She was presented as "the brave heart" of the left.
Lula also had some words of support.
“Every time he comes to an event, I am happy to see that our people recognize the injustice they suffered,” she declared.
The figure of the former president, elected in transparent elections and evicted by a behind-the-scenes agreement, fits well with the line of the campaign, which presents this election as a decisive moment to "restore" Brazilian democracy after the controversial years of the far-right Jair Bolsonaro .
Furthermore, it's tempting to take advantage of her place in her history as Brazil's first female president, when Lula's main adversary has sky-high female rejection rates.
“I know the strength of decision of the Brazilian woman.
Let's vote for Lula!” said Rousseff in Porto Alegre, in a call for women's vote.
The
impeachment
, the biggest shadow of the Rousseff government, is old news.
A few days ago, the Prosecutor's Office filed the case due to the budgetary operations that led to its fall.
“The truth came out.
She was late but justice is being done, ”she reacted.
On the other hand, those who defended the departure of the former president have begun to change their minds.
Felipe Neto, one of the most followed
youtubers
in Brazil, has apologized this Monday for having spread "the coup speech" and has published an image of Rousseff hugging her on his social networks.
Even the author of the
impeachment petition
, parliamentarian Miguel Reale Jr., has declared his support for Lula because Bolsonaro's actions during the pandemic were "much more serious" than what Rousseff did.
However, the role of the former president in the campaign has not gone beyond one of luxury opening act in a handful of events.
According to political scientist Claudio Couto, from the Getulio Vargas Foundation, at this moment Rousseff is neither an electoral asset nor a liability, but that could change.
She “she can turn into a passive if she shows up too much.
For this reason, Lula talks a lot about the achievements of her government and very little about Dilma's.
She wants to avoid the negative image of her mandate” she points out.
Nor is it clear what Rousseff's role will be if the left wins the elections.
She is not running for Congress, and Lula has ruled out appointing her minister because he would not feel "comfortable" giving orders to the one who held the highest position in the state.
The candidate, in addition, has released some mild criticism of his protégé.
After saying that Rousseff's first term was "extraordinary," Lula said in a recent interview that she believes she made some mistakes in economic policy.
"She already knows what I think of that," she declared.
The journalist Savarese believes that Rousseff will remain a shadow adviser to Lula, away from the day-to-day.
"Dilma wants to go back to her house and lead a more peaceful life," he says.
Of course, the reporter says that he would not be surprised if Lula, if he won, made a gesture towards her during her inauguration.
When Rousseff was separated from her, she left the Planalto Palace, the seat of the Executive in Brasilia, through the back door.
Six years later, Lula could decide to enter with her through the main ramp.
A discreet rehabilitation, but through the front door.
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