Brazil's Lula da Silva: A Victory of an Immense Democratic Movement

WTF is Going on in Latin America & The Caribbean

EPISODE: Brazil’s Lula da Silva: A Victory of an Immense Democratic Movement

GUEST: Michael Fox who is an independent journalist and the podcast host of Brazil on Fire a NACLA and Real News production

BACKGROUND

Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva was elected the next president of Brazil, in a stunning comeback following a tight run-off race on Sunday, October 30. His victory is one of an Immense Movement returning democracy to Latin America’s largest country, after four years of Jair Bolsonaro’s far-right administration.

The 76-year-old politician’s win represents the return of the left into power in Brazil, and concludes a triumphant personal comeback for Lula, after a series of corruption allegations lead to his imprisonment for 580 days. The sentences were later annulled by the Supreme Court, clearing his path to run for reelection.

“They tried to bury me alive and I’m here,” he said in a jubilant speech last Sunday.

He will take the reins of a country plagued by gross inequality that is still struggling to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. Approximately 9.6 million people fell under the poverty line between 2019 and 2021, and literacy and school attendance rates have fallen. He will also be faced with a deeply fractured nation and urgent environmental issues, including rampant deforestation in the Amazon.

This will be Lula’s third term, after previously governing Brazil for two consecutive terms between 2003 and 2010.

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ADDITIONAL LINKS:

Brazil on Fire

Latin America's Turbulent Transitions: The Future of Twenty-First Century Socialism

WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean is a Popular Resistance broadcast in partnership with CODEPINK, Common Frontiers, Council on Hemispheric Affairs, Friends of Latin America, InterReligious Task Force on Central America, Massachusetts Peace Action and Task Force on the Americas,