BRAZIL, October 2 – Novosti. Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will once again fight for the presidency of the country on October 2, putting the protection and support of the poor at the forefront.
He is familiar with this. Born into a large peasant family, he started working at a factory at the age of 14, joined the trade union of metallurgists in the state of São Paulo at the age of 23 , and after another 12 years he created the socialist Workers’ Party, from which he is running this year. The virtual lack of education (Lula da Silva dropped out of school after the fourth grade, and then studied to be a mechanic) did not prevent him from running for the presidency of Brazil several times in the 80s and 90s of the last century. He became the head of state on the fourth attempt and for two terms – from 2003 to 2011.
“Still, Lula is in a sense lucky. His first two terms fell on a period of economic recovery, thanks, among other things, to the reforms that his predecessor Fernando Henrique Cardoso carried out. Lula received a fairly well-oiled, tuned economic mechanism and at the same time high prices for the main export commodities,” Dmitry Razumovsky, director of the Institute of Latin America of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Novosti.
“Now Lula will not have such economic opportunities. The country is in crisis,” he added.
Election program
Unemployment, poverty, a possible return of hunger, inflation and fuel prices are the problems that the new Brazilian president will have to deal with first of all.
Lula da Silva’s main campaign slogan is “include the poor man in the budget.” The presidential candidate promises that the minimum wage will be reassessed every year above the rate of inflation, that financial payments to poor families will be increased, although they hit the country’s budget hard, and taxes will be revised so that the poor pay less and the rich more. According to Lula da Silva, the state should stimulate employment.
In addition, the presidential candidate promises to reform agriculture and support farmers to guarantee the country’s food sovereignty.
In terms of fuel prices, Lula da Silva considers it necessary to change the policy of the largest state-owned oil company Petrobras : it should be reoriented towards guaranteeing fuel supplies, investing in refineries, and its prices should correspond to the real, not the dollar.
Lula da Silva’s proposals were in fact supported by dozens of Brazilian economists, who, in a letter published this week, called for voting for a left-wing candidate.
In terms of foreign policy, Lula da Silva will follow the path of building strategic alliances, and, above all, with Latin American countries , such as Argentina and Bolivia , relations with which the current Brazilian government is far from close, believes a professor at the Argentine National University of Villa Maria, a political scientist Sylvina Irusta.
“In terms of trade and economic relations with Russia , Lula da Silva will continue them (despite the sanctions imposed by the West). We must not forget that Russia also has great economic interests in Brazil … It is difficult to imagine that relations will not be continued,” she said. she is.
Love and hatred
Despite the polls favoring Lula da Silva, he won’t win the election so easily. Brazilian society is highly polarized, it is actually divided into those who love and hate Lulu da Silva. His opponents call him an “ex-prisoner” and are constantly reminded of the corruption scandals during his first terms in office.
In 2016, Lula da Silva was investigated for corruption and money laundering. He was sentenced to a total of over 12 years in prison and banned from holding public office. Lula da Silva spent 580 days in prison, and on November 8, 2019, the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil decided to release him. Later, all charges were dropped from Lula da Silva, which allowed him to immediately join the struggle for the presidency. However, the candidate tries not to pedal the topic of corruption during various discussions, trying to talk more about the pressing social problems of the country.
By the way, Lula da Silva’s new wife, a sociologist and a member of his party Rosangela, who is briefly called Zhanzha, will most likely take an active part in solving the latter.
The 76-year-old presidential candidate married a 55-year-old lady in May of this year. For Lula da Silva, this is the third union.
Their relationship began back in 2017 and was kept under wraps. Janja visited Lula da Silva in prison and waited for him along with supporters on the street on the day of his release.
“I’m in love like I’m 20, like it’s my first girlfriend,” Lula da Silva told Time magazine.
A few days before the wedding, during a rally in support of Lula da Silva, Zhanja made him a gift – a short video: famous Brazilian singers re-recorded the song “Without fear of being happy” or “Lula-la”, which was the leitmotif of the first election campaign back in 1989. Lula da Silva on stage could hardly hold back tears.
