Lula vows accountability, rebuilding plans in Brazil
Bolsonaro misses inauguration after taking refuge in Fla.
BRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sworn in as president Sunday, and in his first address expressed optimism about plans to rebuild while pledging that members of outgoing Jair Bolsonaro’s administration will be held to account.
Lula assumed office for the third time after thwarting far-right incumbent Bolsonaro’s reelection bid. His return to power marks the culmination of a political comeback that is thrilling supporters and enraging opponents in a polarized nation.
“Our message to Brazil is one of hope and reconstruction,” Lula said in a speech in Congress’ Lower House after signing the document that formally instates him as president.
Hundreds of thousands of supporters cheered after his swearing in Sunday afternoon in Brasilia’s main esplanade.
They celebrated when the president said he would send a report about the prior administration to all lawmakers and judicial authorities, revoke Bolsonaro’s “criminal decrees” that loosened gun control and hold the prior administration responsible for its denialism in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We do not carry any spirit of revenge against those who sought to subjugate the nation to their personal and ideological designs, but we are going to ensure the rule of law,” Lula said, without mentioning Bolsonaro by name. “Those who erred will answer for their errors, with broad rights to their defense within the due legal process.”
Bolsonaro was missing from the ceremony.
He was supposed to pass the presidential sash Sunday, an important symbol of the peaceful transition of power in a nation where many people still recall the 21-year military dictatorship that ended in 1985.
Instead, Bolsonaro woke up Sunday 6,000 miles away, in a rented house owned by a professional mixed-martialarts fighter a few miles from Disney World in Orlando, Fla. Facing various investigations from his time in his office, Bolsonaro flew to Orlando on Friday night and plans to stay in Florida for at least a month.
Bolsonaro had questioned the reliability of Brazil’s election systems for months, without evidence, and when he lost in October, he refused to concede unequivocally.
In a sort of farewell address Friday, breaking weeks of near silence, he said that he tried to block Lula from taking office but failed.
“Within the laws, respecting the Constitution, I searched for a way out of this,” he said.
He then appeared to encourage his supporters to move on. “We live in a democracy or we don’t,” he said. “No one wants an adventure.”
Lula’s presidency is unlikely to be like his previous two mandates, coming after the tightest presidential race in more than three decades in Brazil and resistance to his taking office by some of his opponents, political analysts say.
The leftist defeated Bolsonaro in the Oct. 30 vote by less than 2 percentage points.
For months, Bolsonaro had sown doubts about the reliability of Brazil’s electronic vote and his loyal supporters were loath to accept the loss.
Many have gathered outside military barracks since, pleading with the armed forces to prevent Lula from taking office.
His most die-hard backers resorted to what some authorities labeled acts of “terrorism” — which has prompted security concerns about inauguration day events.
Lula will have to navigate more challenging economic conditions than he enjoyed in his first two terms, when the global commodities boom proved a windfall for Brazil.
At the time, his administration’s flagship welfare program helped lift tens of millions of impoverished people into the middle class. Many Brazilians traveled abroad for the first time. He left office with a personal approval rating of 83%.
In the intervening years, Brazil’s economy plunged into two deep recessions — first, during the tenure of his handpicked successor, and then during the pandemic — and ordinary Brazilians suffered greatly.
Lula has said his priorities are fighting poverty, and investing in education and health. He has also said he will bring illegal deforestation of the Amazon to a halt. He sought support from political moderates to form a broad front and defeat Bolsonaro, then tapped some of them to serve in his Cabinet.