Lula praised triumph of democracy when he was sworn in as president

The new president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, today praised the triumph of democracy, which led him to win the two rounds of elections in October against the ultra-right president Jair Bolsonaro.

    January 1, 2023
    CST14:25 (GMT) -0500

    Published by: Elsy Fors Garzon

“If we are here it is thanks to the political awareness of Brazilian society,” said the founder of the Workers’ Party in Parliament, in a lengthy first speech after being sworn in as the new ruler of the South American giant.

He insisted that democracy was “the great victor” by facing and overcoming the “most violent threats to the freedom to vote”, in an obvious reference to the attacks on the polls carried out by Bolsonaro, who wanted to be re-elected.

He stressed that “democracy won” and the “wheel of the economy will turn again”.

He also promised that he assumes power with the commitment to rebuild the country together with his people and that he would rescue 33 million people from hunger and 100 million from poverty, almost half the population. “Our first actions are aimed at rescuing 33 million people from hunger and taking more than 100 million Brazilians out of poverty, who bore the heaviest burden of the project of national destruction that is closing today”, said the progressive leader.

Twenty years after embracing power for the first time, the 77-year-old ex-lathe operator was proclaimed president for a third time, now together with his vice-president, former governor Geraldo Alckmin.

Lula arrived at Congress in the traditional black Rolls Royce convertible car together with the first lady, psychologist Rosângela Lula da Silva, popularly known as Janja.

After the ceremony in Parliament, Lula will walk down the ramp of the Planalto Palace, seat of the Executive Power, and will receive the presidential sash, a green and yellow sash, the colors of the national flag, embroidered in gold and diamonds.

Surprisingly, Bolsonaro declined to deliver that strip, as is the tradition, and decided to travel to the United States last Friday to spend a vacation in the city of Orlando.

After receiving the presidential sash, Lula will once again speak before some 30,000 people, according to calculations by the organizers of the activity.