Commentary
At a recent rally, Brazil’s presidential candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, commonly known as “Lula,” called on Brazilians to support him in defending the country’s democracy from the conservative candidate President Jair Bolsonaro.
It is ironic to see this far-left politician considering the present incumbent a major threat to democracy in Brazil. For when Lula served as the nation’s 35th president, from 2003 to 2010, his government pushed for the creation of unconstitutional bodies of external (political) control over the press, television, and film.
Thankfully, the numerous corruption scandals that shook the Lula administration, including a vote-buying scheme in the Congress, at least offered the beneficial effect of demoralising a government that seemed quite bent on establishing a long-lasting socialist dictatorship….