Brasilia. The man of the left, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), has assumed the post of Brazilian head of state and government for the third time. Lula da Silva narrowly defeated authoritarian right-wing incumbent Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in a late-October runoff, but with a record vote of more than 60 million.
Representatives from over 120 nations were present at the inauguration ceremony arrived. Among the nearly 60 heads of state and government were the Chinese Vice President, Wang Qishan, and the German Federal President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
In a joint meeting shortly before Lula took office, Steinmeier promised that Germany would soon allocate 35 million euros to the Amazon fund to protect the rainforest. reported the daily mirror. The funds were frozen during Bolsonaro’s tenure because his government reversed government measures to protect the rainforest.
The Chinese side made it clear in advance that they would like Lula’s plans welcome, to want to relaunch the association of the main emerging countries, the BRICS. Developing countries, in particular, have recently expressed the hope that Brazil will once again be an international engine of their interests. Brazil’s last president, Bolsonaro, isolated the country internationally due to reactionary positions and a move away from multilateralism.
In his first speech as new head of state promised Lula to focus more on foreign policy dialogue and expand cooperation with South American neighbors and Africa. The primary objective is also to reduce rainforest logging to zero and to protect indigenous territories. “We Brazilians owe a great debt to the indigenous people,” Lula explained, referring to the newly founded indigenous ministry, headed by MP Sônia Guajajara of the Guajajara tribe will preside.
Additionally, Lula announced the first steps to reverse his predecessor’s policies. According to Lula, he will immediately repeal Bolsonaro’s liberalization of gun ownership and stop this “crazy idea with a black zero budget”. Thus, the government will relaunch the “Bolsa Familia” social assistance to support the 11 million hungry and 33 million poor in the country.
He never expected the country to be in the same dire situation 20 years after he first took office, Lula said. State-owned companies such as the development bank BNDES and the Petrobras oil company will play a key role in the fight against poverty and the country’s reindustrialisation, the former trade unionist promised.
If Bolsonaro had still been in Brazil, he would then have had to hand over the presidential sash to Lula. However, Bolsonaro had left the country for the United States two days earlier and is currently in the ownership of former US President Donald Trump for an indefinite period of time. With his surprising departure, Bolsonaro not only avoided a possible trial in Brazil. According to his own statements, he also avoided honoring the left-wing successor in the official ceremony.
Instead, Lula had a child, an indigenous person, a black woman, a woman, a worker and retiree, and a person with a disability symbolically present the sash on behalf of the “Brazilian people.” When Lula spoke of the “extreme inequality in the country,” he got emotional and had to stop talking.
While tens of thousands had gathered to watch the “reboot of Brazil”, there were no counter-protests from Bolsonaro supporters. Observers had feared that right-wing extremists could cause riots or even carry out attacks in the government district. More recently, Bolsonaro sympathizers had attempted to carry out a bomb attack on Brasilia airport to prevent Lula from taking office (reported by america21).
Despite vehement concerns from security officials, Lula refused to wear a bulletproof vest or travel in an armored car on the official drive through the capital rather than in an open car.
