Lula three. From this Monday, Brazil is practically under the third mandate of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvawho received the diploma of president-elect in the October 30 elections by defeating Jair Bolsonaro and his utopia of implanting a neo-fascist regime for decades.
In front of the auditorium Superior Electoral Court (TSE), on a hot afternoon despite the air conditioning, Lula delivered a speech with stretches of historical density. leaders and cadres of workers party (PT) packed the corridors of the electoral court where a climate of victory was breathed, punctuated with some comments about the defeat of the national team against Croatia and the removal of Qatar World Cup.
Lula mentioned the word twenty times democracy throughout fourteen minutes of speech. With a somewhat hesitant voice, he coughed a few times due to a treatment on his larynx, he was emphatic in saying “this is not a diploma for President Lula, but for a significant part of the village who reconquered the right to live in democracy in this country. You have earned this diploma. The Brazilian people chose the love instead of hate, the truth instead of lies (…) in an election where two world views were in dispute. On the one hand, a project to rebuild the country with broad popular participation. And on the other, a project to destroy the country anchored in an industry of lies and slander that has never been seen throughout our history”.
Fight to defeat authoritarianism
to defeat the authoritarianism it was necessary to fight a long fight, initiated before the electoral campaign of this year. It began in 2018 with the resistance to the arbitrariness of the Judiciary that imprisoned the PT chief, banning him from the 2018 elections, won by the current president.
That is why Lula praised the militants of the Landless Workers Movement (MST) and workers party (PT) camped for 580 days in front of the Federal Police headquarters, in Curitibawhere he served a fraudulent sentence by Judge Sergio Moro, mentor of Lava Jato with the sympathy of the Ministry of Justice of USA.
While the vigil in Curitiba resisted the cold and the political adversity From April 2018 to November 2019, the judges of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) did nothing to reverse Moro’s sentence, accepted with docility. This Monday afternoon, most of those magistrates attended the ceremony at the electoral court, where applauded the speech of the extorner who managed to return from political exile.
It is true, the bulk of the Court, today, is suspicious of Bolsonaro and prefers the national reconstruction Offered by Lula. But it is advisable to keep in mind the zigzags of these magistrates.
The biggest ovation of the day corresponded to the former president of Brazil and “comrade Dilma Rousseff”, sitting in the front row
In the auditorium were the highest authorities of the Legislative and Judicial powers, all applauded with respect. But the biggest ovation of the day corresponded to the former president of Brazil and “companion Dilma Rousseff“, sitting in the front row. Overthrown in 2016 by a coup, Dilma is a symbol of the PT that was redone when many considered it finished.
According to Lula, “it is with the commitment to build a true democratic state, guarantee institutional normality and fight against injustice, which I receive for the third time the diploma elected president in the name of the freedom, dignity and happiness of the people”. Elected by a narrow margin in the second round of the elections against BolsonaroLula collected the certificate of his victory from the hands of the judge Alexander de Moraeshead of the TSE.
“Guarantee institutional normality”
The PT chief was moved without demagogy when he remembered his first diploma, the one he had after his election in 2002. Then another would come for the re-election 2006. Those ceremonies -2002 and 2006- were bureaucratic: the TSE issued the diploma certifying that one of the candidates was victorious, without fraud, vote buying or abuse of powerTherefore, he will be able to take office on January 1st.
This time was different. As Bolsonaro does not acknowledge his defeat and insists on the coup threats, the act had to be given an unusual splendor, to give it more political importance and bring it forward in a week, in order to prevent the far-right phalanxes from organizing themselves better. Lula and his vice president, Geraldo AlckminThey will recently take office on January 1, but after today’s event, the prevailing feeling in Brasilia is that the new government is already in place.
The retired Army captain was mute for 40 days after his defeat by Lula. His public agenda consisted of visiting military units on the occasion of officer rank promotion ceremonies. He never spoke at those military events and he resumed speaking on Friday, December 9 before a group of followers, whom he encouraged to continue their militancy due to the intervention of the Armed forces that they are the “last brake on socialism”.
Bolsonaro reappeared this Monday when he greeted another group of followers, many of whom came from the “freedom camp” set up in front of the Army Headquarters in Brasilia where daily demonstrations contaminated with scenes of collective insanity take place.
During the month and a half that has elapsed since the second round of the elections in Brazil, the outgoing president has resigned from his responsibilities, dedicating himself almost exclusively to meeting with rebel leaders. Instead, Lula led the transitional government and last week announced the first five ministers, present this Monday at the diploma ceremony.
The point man is fernando haddadappointed head of the Treasury portfolio and a potential heir to Lula in the 2026 elections. The incoming Minister of Justice, Flavo Dino, who promised to drop the full weight of the law on those who have violated it. Read: there will be no impunity for the coup leaders, including their boss Bolsonaro. Another future cabinet member is Jose Mucio Monteio, who will command Defense: a conservative well-connected with Lula but also with the military and Bolsonaro. Mucio Monteiro seems more prone to conciliation and pacification. The speech given this Monday by Lula did not seem in tune with the conciliatory statements of Mucio Monteiro: the future president was clear in expressing the need to rebuild democracy without giving up or losing memory in the face of authoritarianism.
