Brazil’s leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has launched his campaign for a historic fourth term, vowing to prevent the ‘shameless’ right from returning to power. Addressing a sea of supporters in São Bernardo do Campo, the industrial city where his political career began nearly half a century ago, Lula reminded voters of the chaos and violence that unfolded during the 2018-22 presidency of his far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro.
Lula recalled how hundreds of thousands of citizens died during a Covid outbreak, which Bolsonaro was accused of mishandling with his anti-science policies. Gun ownership soared as laws were relaxed, allowing criminal groups to expand their arsenals. Lula also promised to dedicate a fourth term to improving education and healthcare, as well as developing Brazil’s rare-earth deposits, the world’s second largest after China’s.
Lula’s campaign launch comes as he faces a challenge from Flávio Bolsonaro, the 45-year-old son of the jailed former president, in October’s presidential election. Flávio Bolsonaro launched his campaign on Sunday with an event on Rio’s Copacabana beach, previously the scene of huge rallies in support of his father. Polls suggest Lula holds a slender advantage over Bolsonaro, with 43% of intended votes to his rival’s 40% in a run-off.
The election is seen as a crucial contest, not just for Brazil but for the region. Andrè Pagliarini, the author of a book about Lula, said the showdown would be ‘the single most important electoral contest this year in the world.’ Pagliarini believes a Bolsonaro victory would be a significant boost for the pro-Trump ‘reactionary bloc’ that has won elections across Latin America.
The US has been increasingly assertive in the region, with Donald Trump’s administration launching deadly military operations against alleged ‘narco-terrorists’ and threatening to ‘take back’ the Panama canal. Last week, the US state department published a video declaring that ‘American dominance in the western hemisphere will never be questioned again.’
In recent months, Trump has turned up the heat on Brazil, designating its two biggest organized crime groups as terrorist organizations. This has kindled fears of a US military intervention on Brazilian soil or interference in Brazil’s presidential election. Lula supporters have expressed anger at the US, with some activists handing out stickers that read: ‘Fuck Trump.’
Seixas Alves, a 33-year-old Lula supporter, said he worried the decision to classify Brazilian drug factions as terrorist groups could be used as a pretext for a US attack. ‘Just like they did with Saddam Hussein,’ Alves added, referring to the Iraqi dictator’s supposed development of weapons of mass destruction.
In Vila Euclides, Simone Tebet, a centrist Lula ally, urged voters to do everything they could to stop Brazil falling back into the hands of far-right politicians who wanted ‘to kill Brazilian democracy’ and create ‘a country of hate.’
