Leftist icon Lula becomes Brazil’s president again on Sunday in an inauguration snubbed by outgoing head of state Jair Bolsonaro and surrounded by heavy security measures in the face of the threat posed by the far right.
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At 77, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva must again be proclaimed president of the first power in Latin America after his two terms from 2003 to 2010, and sign the return of the left to the presidential palace of Planalto.
Some six hours before his inauguration, hundreds of supporters, often dressed in red, the color of Lula’s Workers’ Party (PT), had invaded the streets of the capital and an endless queue, at least a kilometer , had trained in security checks, noted an AFP journalist.
“Olé, olé, ola, Lula, Lula”, and “A esplanada e nossa!” (the esplanade is ours) shouted the crowd in reference to the Esplanade des Ministries, in the heart of Brasilia, where Lula will deliver his first speech as president.
“Welcome back to the capital, President Lula,” read a banner carried by a supporter.
Up to 300,000 people are expected for this day to combine the pomp, with ceremonies regulated to the millimeter, and the party, with concerts, in the usually peaceful capital with futuristic architecture.
“It’s a historic moment and it would have been impossible for me not to be there,” Zenia Maria Soares Pinto, a retired teacher, told AFP. She traveled 30 hours by bus from her southern state of Santa Catarina to Brasilia. “My emotion is boundless”.
Among the fifty foreign delegations present are 17 heads of state, including the presidents of Germany, Portugal, several Latin American countries such as Argentina, and the King of Spain.
The United States sent Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and China Vice President Wang Qishan. France is represented by Olivier Becht, Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade.
“Creating Chaos”
Unprecedented since 1985 and the end of the military regime, outgoing President Bolsonaro will not gird his successor with the yellow and green presidential scarf, as is the democratic tradition.
The far-right president, reclusive and almost silent since his October defeat, left Brazil on Friday. He would be in Florida with an ex-martial arts champion.
While his most radical followers want to prevent Lula’s accession to power and are still camped outside barracks in various cities, demanding military intervention, security has been tightened.
All the police forces of the district of Brasilia, some 8,000 agents, are mobilized, as well as a thousand federal police officers.
The number of people who can attend Lula’s speech outside the Planalto Palace has been limited to 30,000.
Patrols are taking place at Brasilia airport near which an explosive device was discovered a week ago in a tanker truck, placed by a Bolsonarist who wanted to “create chaos” and “prevent the arrival of communism” in Brazil.
The ceremonies will begin at 2:20 p.m. with the arrival at the cathedral of Lula and his center-right vice-president, Geraldo Alckmin.
The debate on the vehicle which must then transport Lula to Congress will be decided “at the last moment”: the traditional Rolls Royce convertible, or an armored car for security reasons.
“Great popular festival”
Lula will be officially sworn in as president at 3 p.m. after taking the oath to respect the Constitution before Congress.
Then he will go to the Presidential Palace of Planalto, an architectural jewel of Oscar Niemeyer, to receive the famous presidential scarf, set with gold and diamonds.
The crowd will be massed to listen to the speech of the new president on the immense esplanade of the ministries, close to the place of the Three Powers, where the palace of Planalto, the Congress and the Supreme Court rub shoulders.
The future First Lady, Rosangela da Silva, known as “Janja”, was the great organizer of the festive aspect of the day, with concerts.
Lula’s wife has promised a “big popular party”, with music on two stages and an eclectic line-up, with drag queen Pabllo Vittar and living samba legend Martinho da Vila.
As for Lula, who has only completed his government of 37 ministers in recent days, he will have to tackle a “Herculean task” on Monday, said his vice-president: the transition team has drawn up a report very dark places in Brazil after four years of Bolsonarism.
“His electoral victory was narrow, he takes the head of a divided country, with a mobilized opposition”, notes Leandro Consentino, political scientist at the Insper Institute in Sao Paulo.
