The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Lula caresses the return to power in Brazil through the front door

2022-10-02T03:30:49.328Z


The former president's victory would mean overcoming the trauma of Rousseff's impeachment and the culmination of Latin America's turn to the left. The main question is whether he wins in the first round or has to wait until October 30


Doña Lindu's son made history two decades ago, when he became the first president of Brazil without a university degree, the first worker at the pinnacle of power in an unequal and classist country like few others.

He now has the opportunity to offer his compatriots a new horizon and rewrite the last chapter of his story.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (76 years old, Garanhuns, Pernambuco) caresses his return to the presidency through the front door this Sunday.

If the portrait emanating from the polls for months is correct, the leftist will defeat President Jair Messias Bolsonaro, 67, of the extreme right.

It would mean the return of the progressives to the Government after the trauma of the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff, in 2016, and the great culmination of the turn to the left in Latin America,

The main question is whether Lula gets 50% plus one of the valid votes —without nulls or blanks— that he needs to sentence the dispute this Sunday or has to go to a second round with Bolsonaro —a former military officer who flirts with the coup— within four weeks.

Most likely, Brazilians will return to the electronic polls on October 30.

The last poll gave the leftist this Saturday 50% and the far right 36%.

If Bolsonaro scored a goal by getting Neymar to ask for a vote for him on TikTok, the network that is all the rage among youth, the composer Chico Buarque has appealed this Saturday on Instagram to "those who do not like Lula" to ask them to vote because "it's about saving democracy."

The singer's parents participated in the founding of the Workers' Party (PT) during the dictatorship.

Another great unknown is how the far-right leader will react to the defeat predicted by the polls in view of the great campaign he is promoting against the voting system, which has undermined the credibility of electronic ballot boxes, which Brazil has been using for 25 years.

A good part of the Bolsonaristas —a third of the electorate— declares themselves convinced that everything is rigged to steal victory from their leader.

The matter is technical and delicate.

The fear of a breakdown of the constitutional order and the speculations about it have been in the air for months.

Those faithful to Bolsonaro do not trust the polls either.

His constant attacks against the judiciary, the press and anyone who disagrees - whom he considers an enemy - have eroded Brazilian democracy, one of the largest in the world.

For Lula, it is a dispute between democracy and barbarism.

For Bolsonaro, a fight between good and evil.

The electorate —156 million people— also votes for the Chamber of Deputies and a third of the Senate, in addition to the governors and parliamentary assemblies of the 27 states.

The convoluted Brazilian electoral regulations prevent rallies from Friday, but not walks.

So this Saturday, Lula appeared in a kind of

popemobile

on São Paulo's main avenue, Paulista.

And Bolsonaro has circulated in the north of the metropolis at the head of a group of bikers.

The biography of the leftist is extraordinary, but he was dragged into the mud by the Lava Jato corruption scandal, which swept away untouchable politicians and businessmen.

He was imprisoned for more than 20 months, convicted of corruption.

Those sentences, now annulled for procedural reasons, prevented him from contesting the previous elections, in 2018, in which he was also a favorite.

He always defended his innocence.

The son of illiterate parents and the youngest of seven children, he was born in Pernambuco, in the poorest Brazil, the northeast, historically plagued by drought.

He was a child when he emigrated as a family on a 13-day trip to São Paulo, where they were reunited with his father, Aristides, who always made an effort to guarantee food, but who mistreated the children until one day his wife grabbed them and took him away. they abandoned

She stars in many of his speeches.

Lula — who was never a good student, but always exhibited glibness and charisma — knew how to take advantage of the opportunities offered by São Paulo.

As a child, he worked as a shoe shiner before entering a technical school that opened the door to a permanent job in metallurgy.

There, he lost his left little finger, which is why Bolsonaro calls him "nine fingers."

Strikes against the dictatorship

The turner became a union leader.

And he, who did not take a dim view of the fact that the military took power in 1964 to bring order to Brazil, according to

Lula's biography, Volume I,

led the great strikes against the dictatorship.

Since his first attempt in 1989, he has lost three times before becoming president and being re-elected.

His eight years in power (2003-2010) were a time of prosperity thanks to the Chinese demand for raw materials.

He was able to implement ambitious social programs for the historically disinherited.

"We put the poor in the budget," he often says.

The lives of millions of people have improved like never before.

Electricity, the refrigerator, the washing machine arrived for many… The children of domestic workers entered the university.

He raised blisters.

The elites considered that they displaced their children.

Thanks to that prosperity, many poor people, black and mestizo, flew by plane.

It was the Brazil that seduced the world and Barack Obama.

In the huddles of a G-20, the then president of the United States said: “I adore this guy.

He is the most popular politician on earth!”

The following year, Lula left power with an 87% popularity rating.

That is the Brazil that he has sold in this campaign, not the one that came later, with Dilma Rousseff, whom he chose as political heiress.

That of systemic corruption and the recession that led to the

impeachment

that ended 14 years of progressive governments.

In this breeding ground, a fierce hatred germinated against politicians in general and the PT in particular, a wave that Bolsonaro, a mediocre deputy, skilfully rode to become the surprise of the 2018 elections.

Now, the economic situation is bleak.

More than 33 million Brazilians are hungry, unemployment is around 9%, inflation reaches 8.7% and the International Monetary Fund calculates that the GDP will close this year with an increase of 1.7%.

If he loses, Bolsonaro will be the first president not to be re-elected so far this century.

His inhumane and disastrous management of the pandemic, which has killed 670,000 Brazilians, is the main reason why many of those who bet on him as the savior have turned their backs on him.

To survive in office, he threw himself into the arms of the old politics, of parties that offer parliamentary support to the highest bidder, and promoted a generous program of economic aid to 20 million poor people.

The economy has endured the pull after the pandemic.

Nostalgic for the dictatorship, ultra-conservative, sexist, he has fulfilled his promise to dismantle environmental policy, facilitate the sale of arms and place a “terribly evangelical” judge on the Supreme Court, as Bolsonaro said.

With him, deforestation has accelerated, Brazil is seen as an environmental villain and is diplomatically more isolated than ever.

In the eyes of many, the leader of the PT is the new savior.

Others will vote for him reluctantly or holding their noses because they consider him the only one capable of kicking Bolsonaro out.

This time, to improve his chances, he is running Geraldo Alkcmin, a former figure of the classic center-right and a staunch supporter

of Rousseff 's

impeachment , as his vice-presidential candidate.

Now, the public of the lulista rallies acclaims it.

Lula offers a return to a happy and prosperous Brazil, where everyone can have barbecue and a beer on weekends without going into uncomfortable details about how he intends to resurrect an economy that has had stagnant growth for almost a decade and where the money will come from to pay for it. the inclusion of that poor majority.

Lula's team has reserved Paulista Avenue for Sunday night, but Lula will only be seen if he wins in the first round.

If not, it will be reserved.

The Bolsonaristas also wanted to meet there, but they will only be able to do so in the unlikely event that the president is re-elected that same night.

A quick count is expected thanks to the electronic ballot boxes, which are now only a national pride for half of Brazil.

Subscribe here to the

EL PAÍS América

newsletter and receive all the key information on current affairs in the region.

Subscribe to continue reading

read without limits

Keep reading

I'm already a subscriber

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2022-10-02

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-11T04:54:09.178Z
News/Politics 2024-03-27T18:55:04.792Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.