Lula takes office for third term as Brazil's president
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Brazil's President elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva waves to supporters on the day of his swearing-in ceremony.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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BRASILIA - Leftist leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been sworn in as Brazil’s President, delivering a searing indictment of far-right former leader Jair Bolsonaro and vowing a drastic change of course to rescue what he called a ruined nation.
In a speech to Congress after officially taking the reins of Latin America’s biggest country on Sunday, Mr Lula said democracy was the true winner of the October presidential vote,
Mr Bolsonaro, who left for the United States on Friday
“Democracy was the great victor in this election, overcoming... the most violent threats to freedom to vote, and the most abject campaign of lies and hate plotted to manipulate and embarrass the electorate,” Mr Lula said.
Mr Lula, who was behind bars during Mr Bolsonaro’s 2019 inauguration on graft convictions that were later overturned, delivered a veiled threat to his predecessor.
Although Mr Bolsonaro’s Florida trip insulates him from immediate legal jeopardy in Brazil, he faces mounting judicial risks – related to his anti-democratic rhetoric and his pandemic handling – after losing his presidential immunity.
“We do not carry any spirit of revenge against those who tried to subjugate the nation to their personal and ideological designs, but we will guarantee the rule of law,” Mr Lula said, without mentioning his predecessor. “Those who erred will answer for their errors.”
He accused Mr Bolsonaro’s administration of committing “genocide” by failing to respond properly to the Covid-19 outbreak
“The responsibilities for this genocide must be investigated and must not go unpunished,” he said.
Mr Lula’s plans for government provided a stark contrast to Mr Bolsonaro’s four years in office, which were characterised by backsliding on environmental protections in the Amazon rainforest, looser gun laws and weaker protections for indigenous peoples and minorities. He also wants to turn Brazil, one of the world’s top food producers, into a green superpower.
In his first moves as president, Mr Lula restored the authority of the environmental protection agency Ibama to combat illegal deforestation, which was diluted by Mr Bolsonaro, and revoked a measure that encouraged illegal mining on protected indigenous lands.
He reinforced his commitment to ending deforestation in the Amazon, which surged to a 15-year high under Mr Bolsonaro, while enlisting its indigenous inhabitants to help protect the forest.
The administration of US President Joe Biden, who shared little in common with Mr Bolsonaro and chafed at his lacklustre environmental policies, wished Mr Lula and his Vice-President Geraldo Alckmin success.
“We look forward to continuing the strong US-Brazil partnership in trade, security, sustainability, innovation, and inclusion,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted. “Here’s to a bright future for our countries – and the world.”
Mr Lula said he will revoke dozens of Mr Bolsonaro’s executive orders loosening firearms laws, which prompted a sharp rise in gun ownership. “Brazil does not want more weapons, it wants peace and security for its people,” he said.
After the swearing-in, Mr Lula drove in an open-top Rolls-Royce to the Planalto Palace, where he walked up its ramp with his wife and a diverse group that included Chief Raoni Metuktire of the Kayapo tribe, a young black boy and a disabled man.
Mr Lula was then handed the presidential sash – a hugely symbolic act in Brazil that Mr Bolsonaro had repeatedly said he would never do – by black garbage collector Aline Sousa.
Tens of thousands who had gathered to celebrate on Brasilia’s esplanade cheered as Mr Lula wiped away tears.
In a subsequent speech, he pledged to unite the polarised country and govern for all Brazilians, saying: “There are not two Brazils. We are one country, one great nation.”
Mr Lula said he would be fiscally prudent, but made clear his main focus would be on ending hunger and narrowing rampant inequality. He also said he aims to improve the rights of women, and attack racism and Brazil’s legacy of slavery.
“This will be the hallmark of our government,” he said.
Allies said Mr Lula’s new-found social conscience was the result of his 580 days in prison, Reuters reported on Sunday.
The inauguration
Some of Mr Bolsonaro’s supporters have protested that the election was stolen and called for a military coup to stop Mr Lula returning to office in a climate of vandalism and violence.
On Christmas Eve, a Bolsonaro supporter was arrested for making a bomb that was discovered on a truck laden with aviation fuel at the entrance to Brasilia airport, and confessed he was seeking to sow chaos to provoke a military intervention.
Mr Bolsonaro has seen his support among many former allies evaporate due to the anti-democratic protests.
On Saturday night, then-acting President Hamilton Mourao, who was Mr Bolsonaro’s vice-president, criticised his former boss in a thinly veiled dig for allowing anti-democratic sentiment to thrive after his defeat at the polls.
“Leaders who were supposed to reassure and unite the nation ... allowed silence or inopportune and deleterious protagonism to create an atmosphere of chaos and social disintegration,” Mr Mourao said in a speech late on Saturday.
Mr Lula’s election victory marked a stunning political comeback, winning an unprecedented third presidential term after a hiatus that saw him spend a year and a half behind bars
His 580 days in prison reinforced his sense of social justice and convinced him of the need to prioritize ending poverty over boosting profits, allies said.
In his previous years as Workers’ Party president from 2003-2010, the former union leader lifted millions of Brazilians from poverty during a commodity boom that buoyed the economy.
Now, he faces the daunting challenge of improving Brazil’s stagnant economy while also uniting a country that has become painfully polarised under Mr Bolsonaro.
“A lot is expected of Lula. He’ll have the difficult mission to restore normality and predictability in Brazil, and above all to rapidly deliver results that improve the quality of life for its inhabitants,” said Mr Creomar de Souza, director of Dharma Political Risk consultancy in Brasilia. REUTERS
