Disgraced in corruption crime, now re-elected as President of Brazil

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who rose from poverty to become the President of Brazil before being disgraced in a corruption scandal, has spectacularly returned at the age of 77 to lead the largest economy in Latin America.

Lula, as he is affectionately called, defeated the current right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro and prevented him from winning a new term at the helm of Brazil, confirmed the electoral commission.

Just 18 months ago, the bearded leftist hero with a distinctive raspy voice was a political pariah, imprisoned after a corruption scandal that divided the nation.

The public was furious with his Workers’ Party (PT), which brought Bolsonaro to power in 2018. However, this divisive conservative quickly lost popularity as he oversaw deaths from COVID-19, environmental destruction, and made racist, sexist, and homophobic comments.

– We must fix this country… so that the Brazilian people can smile again – said Lula during an unrelenting campaign in which he traveled the entire country and appeared on popular podcasts to attract younger voters.

He promised that under his rule, Brazilians would again be able to ‘eat picanha and drink beer’ on weekends, referring to the popular cut of beef that has become inaccessible to many due to high inflation.

His statements demonstrate the political skill and approachability that have made him beloved worldwide, with Barack Obama once calling him ‘the most popular politician on Earth.’

Charismatic Lula had a slight advantage during the long and polarizing election campaign.

However, the elections were tense, and Bolsonaro was on his heels until the very end.

Fall from Grace

Lula left the presidency in 2010 as a workers’ hero who managed an economic boom driven by trade that helped lift 30 million people out of poverty.

Despite fears at the time that his leftism would be too radical, Lula’s administration from 2003 to 2010 intertwined pioneering social programs with market-friendly economic policy.

He earned a reputation as a moderate and pragmatic leader.

Lula transformed Brazil into a key player on the international stage and helped ensure it hosted the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

At the end of his term, Lula was supported by an unprecedented 87 percent of citizens.

But then he was embroiled in a massive corruption scandal centered around the state oil company Petrobras, which implicated some of Brazil’s most influential politicians, businessmen, and the PT.

Lula has always denied allegations that he accepted bribes for granting access to lucrative Petrobras contracts.

He was imprisoned in 2018 when Bolsonaro won. He spent more than 18 months in prison before being released pending appeal.

The Supreme Court last year overturned Lula’s conviction, ruling that the chief judge in the case was biased.

However, Lula was not exonerated of the charges. Many Brazilians remain traumatized by the scale of the corruption scandal. Many have fond memories of economic prosperity under his rule, while others voted for him just to see Bolsonaro’s departure.

From Poor to President

Lula grew up in extreme poverty, the seventh of eight children born to illiterate farmers in the drought-stricken northeastern state of Pernambuco.

When he was seven, his family joined the wave of migration to the industrial center of Sao Paulo.

Lula worked as a shoe shiner and peanut vendor before becoming a metalworker at the age of 14.

He lost a finger in a workplace accident in the 1960s.

He quickly rose to the head of his union and led major strikes in the 1970s that challenged the then-military dictatorship.

He co-founded the Workers’ Party in 1980, and nine years later ran for its presidency.

Lula was a presidential candidate three times from 1989 to 1998, finally winning in 2002 and again four years later.

This was his sixth presidential campaign.

A double widower and father of five children, he overcame throat cancer, and in 2017 lost his second wife Marisa Leticia Rocco to a stroke after four decades of marriage.

Lula said he is once again ‘in love as if he were 20 years old’ with Rosangela ‘Janja’ da Silva, a sociologist and PT activist whom he married in May.

Lula stated that he would not run for a second term.