Lula in the face of a different and encouraging scenario

The political track record of Brazil in the last 30 years has been closely linked to the name Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a man of humble origin, wise and with a profound social involvement, who ruled that nation before with quite a lot pressures, as it happens with every government with nuances of “subtle” left.

Ruling the largest nation in all South America is quite a challenge and not only due to the physical nature of the territory, but also its diversity, inequity, and especially its wealth as it has been tough to implement a team work to distribute them equitably.

It is not a passive or commonly normal activity. It is, actually, a turbulent administration that from the very beginning, has been undermined by outside factors faced with the purpose of rebuild and especially, protect minorities, according to the basis of his socialist proposals.

Even when Lula has not been in power, his name has been making headlines, quoted, acclaimed, consulted, always backed by the people who value his work during his presidential mandates, or even before due to his progressive ideas, when he was just a leader within the Partido de los Trabajadores (People’s Party, PT).

Lula da Silva a well-balanced and tenacious politician. He has the gift of the gab and is a tireless fighter for social justice. Since the early days, his project envisioned the lifting of millions of Brazilians out of extreme poverty, essentially those with no voice. He targets it and he achieved it. But it is never enough. However, the statistics show that during his tenure, millions of people were less poor as the president offered job and improvement opportunities. He worked hard to achieve economic transformations that favored not only wealthy people, while Brazil excelled in the region.

Perfection does not exist in politics. No one gets the 100% of votes. Nonetheless, Lula has faced major obstacles so far, from international campaigns to domestic anti-democratic movements, mostly unfair, based on false accusations and sterile arguments; he, sometimes, did not have the necessary resources to solve the different situations.

Generally speaking, leftist governments are always cruelly targeted. The right has a lot of strength and a powerful machinery created to silence and discredit the alternative. This time Lula is facing a different country, lacerated and disorganized, the legacy of Jair Bolsonario, who has ignored, or turned a blind eye, violence and fascism. He himself has also changed. He is already 77 and will need more effort and support to get people united. In addition, the regional context is not the same as it was two decades ago when it was strengthened with a greater leftist presence.

That is why his victory in the October elections has been great, over 60 million people trust him to rebuild Brazil, but this is just over a quarter of the Brazilian population. The challenge is huge, and the future is promising. Will is not enough. It is vital to articulate a new government that manages to identify weaknesses in time and deal with them while building the nation they deserve.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff