This is the inaugural episode of host Teri Mattson’s weekly program, WTF is Going On in Latin America and the Caribbean, at its new home on Popular Resistance. You can watch the program live every Thursday on Popular Resistance’s Facebook Page and YouTube Channel at 7:30 pm Eastern/4:30 Pacific.
This week, Teri interviewed Michael Fox, an independent journalist and the host of Brazil on Fire, which is a Real News and NACLA production, about the recent presidential election in Brazil. Michael was in Brazil to cover the election.
On Sunday, October 30, Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva was elected to be the next president of Brazil in a stunning comeback following a tight runoff race against President Jair Bolsonaro. His victory is one of an immense movement returning democracy to Latin America’s largest country after four years of Bolsonaro’s far-right administration.
The 76-year-old politician’s win represents the return of the Left into power in Brazil and concludes a triumphant personal comeback for Lula after a series of corruption allegations led to his imprisonment for 580 days. The sentences were later annulled by the Supreme Court, clearing his path to run for re-election. On Sunday, in response to all of that, Lula said, “They tried to bury me alive and here I am.”
He will take the reins of a country plagued by gross inequality that is still struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately 9.6 million fell under the poverty line between 2019 and 2021. Literacy and school attendance have deteriorated as well. He will also be faced with a deeply fractured nation and urgent environmental issues, including rampant deforestation of the Amazon.
This will be Lula’s third term after previously governing Brazil for two consecutive terms between 2003 and 2010.
