Former President Lula of Brazil was recently acquitted by the Supreme Court of corruption charges. After being president from 2003 to 2011, he was found guilty and charged with counts of corruption. He was involved in a money laundering scheme called the Lava Jato Case and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Recently the Supreme Court found discrepancies in his case and realized that some of Lula’s actions did not match up with the events of the scheme relating Petrobras, the Brazilian petroleum company.
During the time of his presidency, Lula was very popular and even had a 70% approval rating. Brazilians supported his social welfare policies, but, of course, once corruption was discovered, those ratings decreased. Now that those charges have been dropped, Brazilians have been rejoicing at the fact that he may re-enter politics. Citizens are so unhappy with the current president, Jair Bolsonaro, they are glad Lula will return.
Lula not only has the support of most Brazilians, but also from Argentinian President Alberto Fernández, former Bolivian President Evo Morales, President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro, and even Bernie Sanders.
Lula’s return to politics will definitely bring change to the political field in Brazil. Some even see his return as a new start to the “golden years” of Brazil. For some years, citizens have been unhappy with his party, the Workers Party (PT), but right now, they’re more unhappy with Bolsonaro. Lula helped get millions of citizens out of poverty and improve the functioning of the economy. With the next election in 2022, his party could make a comeback. It could bring more social welfare programs to citizens, and hopefully more aid and policies to control the COVID-19 pandemic.