Lula inauguration: Leftist Lula sworn in as Brazil president

BRASILIA –

Leftist leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sworn in as president of Brazil on Sunday under tightened security in the capital Brasilia following threats of violence by supporters of his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.

In a speech to Congress, Lula said he was receiving a ruined country where hunger had returned under Bolsonaro, whose government he said had depleted resources for education, health and the conservation of forests, and undermined human rights.

He accused Bolsonaro’s “negationist” administration of committing “genocide” by failing to respond properly to the COVID-19 pandemic that killed more than 680,000 Brazilians.

Lula said he won October’s election against opponents who had attacked the country’s internationally-praised voting system.

“If we are here, it is thanks to the political awareness of Brazilian society and the democratic front that we formed,” he said. “Democracy was the great victor, overcoming the greatest mobilization of public and private resources ever seen and the most violent threat to freedom to vote.”

After the swearing-in, Lula was due to drive in an open-top Rolls-Royce to the Planalto palace to don the presidential sash before a crowd of 30,000 supporters, while tens of thousands gathered to celebrate on Brasilia’s esplanade.

The mood in the city was tense after the most fraught election in a generation.

Lula, 77, narrowly defeated Bolsonaro in October to win an unprecedented third presidential term after a hiatus that saw him spend a year and a half behind bars on corruption convictions that were later overturned.

His 580 days in prison reinforced his sense of social justice and convinced him of the need to prioritize ending poverty over boosting profits, allies said. Read full story

In his previous years as Workers Party (PT) president from 2003-2010, the former union leader lifted millions of Brazilians from poverty during a commodity boom that buoyed the economy.

Now, he faces the daunting challenge of improving Brazil’s stagnant economy while also uniting a country that has become painfully polarized under Bolsonaro.

“A lot is expected of Lula. He’ll have the…