In the world of Brazilian football, this is called a “virada”. In France, we will rather use Spanish “raised”, that is to say a spectacular reversal of the game situation, allowing a given losing team to prevail over its adversary. It is an understatement to say if the expression fits today like a glove to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, winner in the second round of the Brazilian presidential election against Jair Bolsonaro with 50.9% of the vote, Sunday, October 30.
The “Brazilian phoenix” has come a long way. From far away. Barely three years ago, Lula was still in prison, sentenced to twelve years and one month for corruption. For a time cut off from the Sao Bernardo do Campo steelworkers’ union, the leader of the left had finally surrendered. On April 7, 2018, he was taken to his cell in Curitiba, at night and by helicopter, like a criminal. At the time, the entire press described a finished Lula, politically dead and buried in shame.
From his prison, Lula attends Jair Bolsonaro’s victory in the presidential election of October 2018, for which he was the favorite. Worse: he sees his worst enemy, Sergio Moro, “star” judge of the “Lava Jato” operation which sentenced him, becoming Minister of Justice. The former trade union leader, founder of the great Workers’ Party (PT), popular president of a golden decade (2003-2011), described as“world’s most popular politician” by Barack Obama himself, is only a shadow of himself.
Lula was then 73 years old. But he’s not giving up. He believes in his star. It’s in his nature: born in the misery of the Nordeste, the former metal trade unionist has fifty years of political life in his paws. He knows the tortuous Brazilian history. He predicts that the extreme right will not resist the experience of power and that Brazil, sooner or later, will quickly turn to him. “The mighty can kill one, two, three roses, but they cannot prevent the coming of spring! », he said when he entered prison.
The man has learned the lessons of the past
History will prove him right. In Curitiba, Lula does not remain inactive. He reads, plays sports, does interviews, receives his friends from all over the world (among them, the Frenchman Jean-Luc Mélenchon). Behind the scenes, his lawyers are busy. On November 8, 2019, to everyone’s surprise, they obtained a favorable decision from the Federal Supreme Court: no one can be imprisoned before their appeals have been exhausted, decrees the highest judicial body in the country. Lula is released from prison. 580 days will have passed.
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