In the northern Brazilian state of Pará, a couple of dozen men stand in a circle around local businessman Maurício Lopes Fernandes Júnior, who wears jean shorts and a blue shirt. He’s under a brick archway which circles a one-story yellow home. Sun beats down through a cloudy sky. It’s hot out. Some of the men are bare-chested, their shirts slung over their shoulders. “Look,” says the businessman, holding their attention. “If Lula wins, you can be sure that more than half of São Miguel is going to close up. I have three ceramics factories here and I’m going to…
Brazil
Bolsonaro Pushes Brazenly False Claims of Election Fraud After First Round Loss
Brazil’s presidential election will go to a runoff later this month, as no candidate was able to secure the endorsement of a majority of voters in the first round of voting. Former leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, commonly referred to as “Lula” by Brazilians, attained around 48.4 percent of the votes on Sunday, according to figures from Reuters. His opponent, far right incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro, obtained 43.3 percent. The second round of the election will take place on October 30. Preelection polling had previously suggested that da Silva was on track to winning the election outright on…
Will Lula Mount a Sufficient Challenge to Bolsonaro and the Far Right in Brazil?
On Sunday, Brazilians will go to the polls in the first round of elections that will be watched around the world. Incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro has seen his support plummet amid a devastating coronavirus pandemic, rising inflation and food costs, increasing poverty and severe deforestation in the Amazon. His most recognized challenger is the former president and Workers’ Party leader, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Amid the many crises facing the Bolsonaro government, various representatives of the Brazilian capitalist class have gone over to the Lula campaign. Among them are many leaders of the impeachment process (in reality, an institutional…
Lula Officially Launches Campaign to Unseat Far Right President Bolsonaro
Speaking to a crowd of supporters and allies gathered in São Paulo on Saturday, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva officially launched his campaign to unseat far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, whose three-year tenure has accelerated the destruction of the Amazon rainforest and intensified the nation’s myriad human rights crises. “Everything that we did is being destroyed by this government,” said Lula, a globally renowned leftist who served as Brazil’s president from 2003 to 2010 and departed office with a striking 83% approval rating. Extreme poverty fell sharply during Lula’s presidency, owing in large part to his implementation and expansion of…