Brasil: A Subborn Thorn In The Side

 

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Good Morning, today is April 15, 2021.

NEED TO KNOW BRAZIL A Stubborn Thorn Lula is back. The leftist former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva recently received a new lease on life in politics after the country’s Supreme Court annulled his criminal convictions in March, paving the way for him to run for reelection next year. “This changes the whole picture,” Dharma Political Risk and Strategy analyst Creomar de Souza told Reuters. Lula ran the largest country in South America from 2003 to 2011. Now 75, he championed the role of the state in lifting up workers and the impoverished, jacked up public spending and became enormously popular with many voters but loathed among Brazil’s business class. Brazilian lawmakers impeached and ousted his Worker’s Party ally and hand-picked successor, ex-President Dilma Rousseff, in 2016, on corruption allegations. Two years later, a court convicted him on corruption charges that Brazil-based American journalist Glenn Greenwald maintained were politically motivated. Lula spent more than 500 days in jail. It seemed as if his brand of left-wing populism was dead. Then right-wing populist Jair Bolsonaro became president in 2018, kicking off a range of controversies including the failure to take the coronavirus seriously, as well as pro-business reforms such as reducing pensions and the public bureaucracy, and privatizing state-owned companies, actions that market observers like J.P. Morgan welcomed. Bolsonaro arguably might have welcomed the annulment of Lula’s conviction. He won office on a wave of anti-Lula sentiment. If Lula runs for the presidency, the incumbent will be able to strike a stark contrast between himself and his rival. Bolsonaro is vulnerable, however. As the coronavirus ravages Brazil – around 2,600 people are dying per day in the country – he’s fired cabinet ministers and military leaders – the military’s top chiefs quit afterward, some believe, because Bolsonaro was planning to use the army against state leaders who imposed restrictions to contain the coronavirus. Regardless, the Washington Post described the actions as those of a desperate man seeking to change direction. The president, who previously derided masks, has even taken to wearing a face covering. Lula has not said whether he will run when Bolsonaro is up for reelection next year. He’s certainly talking like a candidate, however. Recently he referred to the more than 300,000 deaths in Brazil due to Covid-19 as the country’s “biggest genocide” in history, Al Jazeera wrote. Lula might not be out of the woods, Bloomberg cautioned. Prosecutors said they would appeal the court’s decision, which focused on the technicalities of his case rather than the substance of the charges against him. Even if he is not on the ballot, Lula will surely remain a thorn in Bolsonaro’s side.