The main challenges of Lula da Silva’s tenure as President of Brazil in 2023

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The leader of the Workers’ Party begins his third term in office, 20 years after his last presidency. Both Lula and the country have changed in two decades, although challenges such as the fight against poverty or insecurity have not. In addition, the left will have to face Bolsonaro’s legacy.

“Rebuild a country in ruins”, Brazil’s new president promised during his inauguration speech yesterday. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, of what will be his third term, 20 years after his last presidency (he led the country in 2003 and 2010). Both the leader of the Workers’ Party (PT) and Brazil have changed in these two decades, although the fight against poverty and insecurity is still a task. To this he will add the need to undo certain conflicts he inherited from his predecessor, the far-right Jair Bolsonaro. We summarize the main challenges of the left leader:

Surroundings. Lula has pledged to end illegal deforestation in the Amazon. In one of his first decisions, he even decided to reactivate the so-called Amazon Fund, endowed with international funds to contribute to the protection of the Amazon and which had been suspended by Bolsonaro’s decision in 2019. Lula has also suspended the expansion of licenses for the exploitation of Amazonian mineral resources and even on indigenous land. “Brazil does not need to deforestation to increase its agricultural limit,” he has repeatedly stressed.

indigenous collective. In connection with the above, Lula has pledged to resume the demarcation of indigenous lands, which had been paralyzed during Bolsonaro’s four-year term. “Each demarcated land is a new environmental area (…) We are going to revoke all injustices against the indigenous peoples,” he condemned in his inauguration. As proof of the importance that the government of Lula attaches to this group and their interests, one of the 37 ministries that will have executive power will be that of the indigenous peoples, which will be headed by the activist and deputy Sônia Guajajara, one of the most recognized indigenous leaders internationally.

Economy. The fight against hunger and poverty is another of Lula’s priorities. 33 million people in Brazil are hungry and about 100 million people, almost half of the country’s population, are poor. According to the NGO Oxfam, the country goes back to the 1990s.

Unlike the golden years of the first PT government, when Brazil’s economy grew at an average annual rate of 4% and progress was made in reducing poverty, the economic panorama that Lula now depicts is very different, with volatile inflation. in November – and a growth slowdown that has yet to be determined (the Central Bank estimated that GDP would grow at 2.9% in 2022 and remain around 1% in 2023). The unemployment rate stands at 8.7% of the active population, the lowest level since 2015, but economists fear the economy’s slowdown could impact the labor market.

political fragmentation. Lula is obliged to care for a politically divided citizenry, after his victory was not as large as expected. Unlike the executives formed during his previous presidencies, formed almost exclusively by left-wing parties, this time he has formed a multi-party government, with a leaning towards the centre. Congress will also be dominated by conservative parties, thanks to the rise of the far right, which will limit the new president’s room for manoeuvre.

Latin America and International Politics. Lula has already begun to make it clear that he will also distance himself in the international arena from his predecessor, an ally of former President Donald Trump and a critic of multilateralism. Bolsonaro was practically alone globally during the covid-19 pandemic, criticizing restrictions and spreading health hoaxes. Lula wants to reverse this situation of ‘international pariah’.

The Brazilian president is also pushing for “resumption of integration” in Latin America, which is mainly controlled by left-wing parties. “We will resume the integration of Mercosur, with the revitalization of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) and other sovereign bodies” that exist in Latin America, he declared before parliament after being sworn in as Brazil’s new president.

Corruption. The great ballast that continues to tarnish Lula’s image and that has generated internal hatred in a segment of Brazilian society is the instances of corruption that have tarnished his government and that of Rousseff. Investigations into corruption involving oil company Petrobras and construction company Odebrecht led Lula to prison in 2018, where he served 580 days in prison before the Supreme Court overturned the convictions.

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Source: EITB

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