Lula is back. The former union leader and two-time president returned for a third term in Brazil’s top office on January 1, embodying hope for a sharp turnaround after four years under a far-right government and solidifying the swing to the Left sweeping across the region.

In a historic first, Lula received the presidential sash from the “hands of the Brazilian people,” represented by diverse figures including a prominent Indigenous leader, a teacher, a metalworker, and a 10-year-old Black boy from the outskirts of São Paulo. Aline Sousa, a Black waste picker from Brasília, placed the sash over the shoulder of the tearful president, who then turned to embrace the others. Outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro, who traditionally would have had the job of swearing in his successor, refused to inaugurate Lula and left the country for Miami ahead of the ceremony.  

In his first address to Congress, Lula strongly criticized his predecessor. He promised an investigation into the “genocide” resulting from the mismanagement of the Covid-19 pandemic and, as one of his first acts in office, reinvigorated the environmental protection agency that had been gutted under Bolsonaro.

Lula’s government represents a broad alliance spanning multiple political parties and ideologies. Among his 37 ministers, he tapped Indigenous climate activist Sônia Guajajara to head the newly created Ministry of Indigenous Affairs and Anielle Franco, sister of slain politician and activist Marielle Franco, as minister of racial equality. Former mayor of São Paulo and Workers’ Party presidential candidate Fernando Haddad will serve as finance minister, and politician and environmentalist Marina Silva will return as minister of environment and climate change, a post she held in Lula’s earlier governments from 2003 to 2008. Other figures in his administration—such as Vice President Gerardo Alckmin and Planning Minister Simone Tibet, both members of center-right parties who supported the 2016 parliamentary coup against Lula’s successor Dilma Rousseff—put Lula’s commitment to coalition-building on full display while raising questions about the complicated balance of governing together with proponents of neoliberal policies.

Lula is already building bridges internationally, too, but the task at hand is no small feat. As Mónica Hirst and Juan Gabriel Tokatlian write in Nueva Sociedad, Lula faces the challenge of “reversing the international and regional isolation and disrepute that have marked Brazilian foreign policy for the last four years.” On his first day full day in office, he met with Latin American leaders from across the political spectrum, as well as with China’s vice president. His government has pledged to strengthen regional cooperation as well as the BRICS alliance, and he is expected to plan visits to the United States and China soon. Washington extended an invitation last month.

Hopes for the new government are high. As Sean T. Mitchell wrote this week for NACLA: “There is, perhaps, no other living leader in either the Global South or North with the stature and track record to effectively make the case for a renewed focus on human wellbeing and survival in a world that is cascading deeper into inequality, environmental destruction, and war.”

Lula lá!

THIS WEEK FROM NACLA

Articles from our Winter 2022 issue, now available open access

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