Lula sworn in for third term as Brazil’s president

Leftist leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Brazil was left in “ruins” during the rule of his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro. Da Silva also pledged to combat Amazon deforestation.

Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sworn in as president on Sunday, returning to the job he held from 2003-2010.

The 77-year-old secured a third term after defeating far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in October during the tightest presidential race in decades.

What did Lula promise during the inauguration?

Taking the oath of office in Congress in the capital Brasilia, Lula vowed to “maintain, defend and obey the constitution” and promised to “rescue” 33 million people from hunger and 100 million people from poverty — nearly half the country’s 215 million population.

Lula said he would rebuild Brazil from the “ruins” that he said the previous government had left, without mentioning his predecessor Bolsonaro by name.

“Out of these terrible ruins, together with the Brazilian people, I assume the responsibility for rebuilding the country and making it a nation of all and for all,” he added.

Lula took his criticism of Bolsonaro’s administration further, saying his transition team had described the country’s public finances as “atrocious.”

“They [the previous government] emptied the resources of the Health ministry. They dismantled Education, Culture, Science and Technology. They destroyed the protection of the environment. They left no resources for school meals, vaccination or public safety,” he said.

He also accused Bolsonaro’s government of committing “genocide” by failing to respond properly to the COVID-19 pandemic that killed more than 680,000 Brazilians.

He then told supporters that Brazil doesn’t need to deforest the Amazon rainforest for agriculture — a key criticism of Bolsonaro’s tenure.

Lula insisted that no other country can match it for the resources needed to become a great environmental power.

Bolsonaro skips inauguration

Delegations from fifty countries were present in Congress for the swearing-in ceremony including King Felipe IV of Spain and the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and Portugal.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier also attended. However, the outgoing President Bolsonaro was absent, having left for Florida on Friday.

After the ceremony, Lula rode by open-top Rolls-Royce to the Planalto palace to don the presidential sash before a crowd of 30,000 supporters from his Workers’ party.

Tens of thousands more people gathered on Brasilia’s esplanade to celebrate his new term.

Security tightened over threats

Security was beefed up throughout the capital after the most fraught presidential election in a generation sparked concerns of violence by Bolsonaro supporters.

Lula beat Bolsonaro by less than 2% of the vote, prompting the far-right leader to then cast doubts on the outcome and insinuate  the country’s electronic voting system was at fault. Bolsonaro also refused to admit defeat.

Some of Bolsonaro’s more extremist supporters even demanded a military coup to keep the far-right leader in power.

Ahead of Lula’s inauguration, police said they arrested a man who tried to enter the area carrying a knife and fireworks. Last week, a Bolsonaro supporter was arrested for planting a tanker rigged with explosives near the Brasilia airport.

Lula led Brazil from 2003 to 2010, at a time when his government profited from the raw materials boom and was able to lift millions of people out of poverty through major social programs.

However, corruption was widespread and Lula was also sentenced to a lengthy prison term for corruption and money laundering, though the sentence was later overturned.

In the intervening years, Brazil’s economy plunged into two deep recessions — first, while his handpicked successor was in office and then during the pandemic under Bolsonaro.