By Lu Evans
We can take the recent presidential elections as an example of this fragility. Luis Inácio da Silva, better known as Lula, obtained 50. 90% of the valid votes, according to the official of the Electoral Tribunal of Brazil, becoming the first Brazilian president to govern for 3 terms. Jair Bolsonaro, the current president, received 49. 10% and became the first president not to be re-elected in Brazil.
Predicting his defeat, Bolsonaro, even before the others went to the polls, pointed out that it was most likely electoral fraud and was worried about not staying in power, saying that there were only 3 characteristics for him: victory, death or prison.
After his defeat, he relented. In his speech, he thanked his constituents and outraged his supporters.
“The existing movements are the result of the indignation and the feeling of injustice of our electoral process. “
Jair Bolsonaro is a retired military officer who became a politician in 1989 and built his career protecting the interests of the military and anti-democratic ideas.
He gained media attention in 1999 when he exposed his totalitarian speech in an interview for “Câmera Aberta”, Bandeirantes TV. During the interview, he defended torture, tax evasion, the closure of Congress, the civil war and the politicians shot, such as the president of the Republic at the time, Fernando Henrique Cardoso. In 2016, in a video interview with The New York Times, he said he wouldn’t have any local Brazilian restaurants.
When Jair Bolsonaro began planning his presidential campaign, he promoted events in several states and used the web to spread disinformation and conspiracy theories.
In 2018, Lula, who was leading the polls for that year’s presidential election, was arrested for money laundering. Bolsonaro, who took the place of the moment, moved to first place by receiving 55% of the valid votes and being eligible president.
After his victory, he appointed Sergio Moro, who condemned Lula, as federal justice minister. The appointment raised questions about Moro’s political motivation for jailing Lula.
Bolsonaro had many weak points in his government, such as the anti-mask and anti-vaccine crusade of the pandemic, the use of useless drugs such as chloroquine to cure covid and the delay in the purchase of vaccines for the people. At least 700,000 Brazilians have died of Covid. Under his rule, deforestation of the Amazon rainforest has been the largest in history. To get an idea, in 2021 alone, the deforested domain in the region was 531. 74 km², larger than Tulsa’s total domain, OK. Another unpopular measure was the so-called secret budget, used across ministries to distribute hard-to-follow cash for politicians aligned with the government’s agenda. There’s also the 100-year-old secrecy, a measure that protects data about the movements of the president, his sons and associates.
Luiz Inácio da Silva (Lula) is a former metallurgist, industrial unionist and member of the Workers’ Party.
During the dictatorship of the army, he led primary movements among workers. Lula one of the leaders of the “Diretas Já”, a democratization movement.
He was president between 2003 and 2011, consolidating social systems and undertaking reforms and radical adjustments that produced social and economic transformations in Brazil, accumulating significant foreign exchange reserves. Rates of poverty, inequality, illiteracy, unemployment, infant mortality and child labour have decreased significantly. while the minimum wage and the employee’s average source of income have recorded genuine gains. People had more access to school, college and physical care. His foreign policy activities included measures to slow global warming and strengthen Mercosur.
In addition to being one of the greatest popular politicians in the history of Brazil, Lula is also one of the most popular maximums around the world. In 2010, the United Nations awarded Lula the name “World Champion in the Fight Against Hunger” for the popularity of his leadership. in the fight against hunger and malnutrition in Brazil.
But in 2017, he was charged and convicted of money laundering, squandering his political rights and went to jail. But in 2022, Brazil’s Supreme Court restored Lula’s political rights and ruled that the investigation and prosecution violated his right to be tried by an independent tribunal.
In his post-election speech, Lula promised paintings for all Brazilians and also referred to his conviction: “They tried to bury me alive. “
As the new president-elect, Lula will lead a very different country than it had between 2003 and 2010. The global recession, debt and lack of resources are some of its challenges.
The left-wing Brazilians who voted for Lula expect very important reforms. He promised to fight hunger, social inequality and inflation, resume investment in infrastructure and housing, fight corruption, preserve civil rights, social welfare and public health systems, invest in education and protect the Amazon from environmental crimes.
But before assuming the presidency in January 2023, Lula will have to face the right-wing electorate that spreads disinformation, generates chaos and tries to get Bolsonaro to win the elections. Sound familiar?
Lu Evans was born in Brazil but became a U. S. citizen more than a decade ago. He is a journalist and lately studying anthropology at Central New Mexico College.
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