The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva, who this Monday celebrates his first 100 days of managing his third term as president, tries to put the South American giant back on track amid tense relations with the Army, Congress and the Central Bank. In parallel, he asks for patience to face the environmental challenge and is optimistic about the return of the country to the international scene.
The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva, took stock of his first 100 days in office, where he took the opportunity to blame his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, for the economic and social crisis, and declared himself “proud” and optimistic in relation to the economic future of the country.
“Brazil once again had a government that looks at the Brazilian people and wakes up early to take care of those who need it most, who in recent years have been victims of the absence of a government in this country,” Lula said during his speech.
The president devoted a good part of his speech to criticizing the management of Bolsonaro, whom he accused of trying to “perpetuate fascism” in Brazil by spending “millionaires” state resources for his frustrated re-election last October.
“A developed country is not built on the ruins of hunger, attacks on democracy, lack of respect for human rights, and inequality of income, race, and gender,” said the president.
“We have a lot of people who don’t like democracy”
The leftist too commented on the January 8 riots in which supporters of former President Bolsonaro stormed Congress, the Supreme Court and the Planalto Presidential Palace —seats of power in Brasilia— causing numerous damages and seeking to provoke a military coup a few days after the inauguration of ‘Lula’.
“They did not want to leave power, they did not want to abide by the electoral result after the millions of the budget that were used to win the elections,” he denounced.
However, he stressed that the next day Brazil experienced a historic moment when “Brazilian society saw” the heads of the three powers of the Republic “defend democracy” with the same voice.
It was an unprecedented event. At least 1,200 Bolsonaristas were arrested for vandalism and, according to several local organizations, the omission or complicity of the Police during the attack on State powers was evident.
Undoubtedly, deterring unrest and avoiding possible coups was a challenge never seen by any president since Brazil’s return to democracy more than three decades ago. And it became one of the milestones that have marked the efforts of the Government of him.
However, for Denilde Holzhacker, a political scientist at the ESPM marketing school, the president missed a feeling of unity derived from the attack.
“The spirit of that second week of government was lost, and the divergences increased even more,” Holzhacker argued for AFP.
The economy, the central battle of ‘Lula’
To finance social investments and guarantee job creation, ‘Lula’ needs the economy to grow. But several economists surveyed weekly by the Central Bank They forecast growth of less than 1% this year and little more in 2024, down from 2.9% last year. They even anticipate an economic contraction in the fourth quarter.
The leader of the Workers’ Party (PT) also attacked the independent Central Bank, which he has been pressing for weeks to lower the official interest rate. Currently, this is at 13.75% per year, which in his opinion is hindering growth.
The battle of opinions with the president of the organization has translated into nervousness in the financial markets, because ‘Lula’s’ request clashes with the economic doctrine that dictates raising rates at times of high inflation.
“‘Lula’ has his way of speaking and the market is very suspicious of him. But in fact he has reinforced more austere (economic) positions,” André Perfeito, an economist at the Necton consultancy, told AFP.
According to the president, his economic management is optimistic in the face of the “pessimism” of international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank.
“I continue to believe that they are playing with this country, with the poor people and with the businessman who wants to invest,” the president added.
The reactivation of its social programs
Since his return on January 1, the leftist introduced changes to the budget, reactivating his previous policies such as the family allowance, the ‘My House, My Life’ housing program and the ‘More Doctors’ initiative to expand health care. Likewise, he revived one of his flagship programs: ‘Bolsa Familia’, a monthly payment received by 22 million poor families.
The president compared the data on the increase in resources earmarked for transport, health and housing infrastructures with those of the previous Administration. He took the opportunity to ask his ministers to focus their efforts on “the most humble people” because “the middle class needs little” and “the rich do not need” any help from the State.
“Good money is not money kept in the safe, it is money under construction, obviously responsibly, since we cannot spend in an unbridled way,” he clarified.
The president promised to reinforce actions against sexist violence, confront the “massacre of Afro youth from the periphery”, “continue protecting the territories of indigenous peoples” and the environment.
The return to the international scene
A priority of ‘Lula’ has been to reaffirm Brazil’s place on the international scene. Proof of this has been his rapprochement with leaders from the United States, France, China and Argentina. A twist on the foreign policy of his predecessor, who showed little interest in traveling abroad or building bridges with other nations.
Last week the president announced Brazil’s official request to rejoin Unasur. An announcement that goes hand in hand with that of Argentina and that aims to strengthen economic ties in the region.
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On the other hand, the leftist will visit China. A long-awaited trip due to the importance of the Asian giant in the Brazilian economy.
‘Lula’ has been in favor of a peaceful end to the war in Ukraine, although some have criticized his position as excessively soft on Russia. A position that Eduardo Grin, professor of public administration at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, resembles the closeness of the president, in their past mandates, to governments on which multiple denunciations of human rights violations fall in Latin America, such as Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
‘Lula’ admits that environmental objectives “are not easy”
Since his campaign, the president has emphasized the importance of environmental protection, and has promised large-scale efforts. But so far, the biggest victory in the matter has been a humanitarian operation to rescue the Yanomami — an indigenous community living in the Amazon region in the north of the country — from disease and malnutrition.
The operation saw the armed forces provide them with food and medical supplies, while newly empowered environmental agents destroyed illegal gold-mining camps plaguing rivers and jungle, and drove the miners out of indigenous territory.
An action that is far from Bolsonaro’s policies, which encouraged the exploration of minerals in said territories. In addition, the former president criticized that its status as a protected area made said land unproductive.
Environmentalists, indigenous rights activists, the media, and foreign governments celebrated Lula’s actions in areas inhabited by the Yanomami.
On the other hand, the president revived donations to the Amazon Fund, the most important international cooperation effort to preserve the area.
But one of his biggest challenges in this sector is to rebuild Brazil’s environmental organs, not only for preservation, but also to demonstrate the government’s commitment to foreign governments and investors.
But support for the leftist president is weak. Of 2,028 Brazilians surveyed by Datafolha, 38% said that the Lula Administration was good or excellent. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
With AP, AFP and EFE
