Global Leftists Celebrate Jair Bolsonaro’s Ouster, Return of Corrupt Socialist Lula in Brazil

Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stands amid supporters during the fina
AP Photo/Eraldo Peres
Christian K. Caruzo

Leftist leaders of free governments and authoritarian regimes around the world rapidly sent messages of congratulations and support to socialist convicted felon Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for narrowly winning Brazil’s presidential election against incumbent conservative Jair Bolsonaro on Sunday.

Lula defeated Bolsonaro 50.9 percent to 49.1 percent on Sunday, despite arguably not being eligible to be on the ballot. Lula had been charged and convicted on multiple appeals of using bribe money to buy luxury property while president, which should have banned him from running for any political office for life. 

The nation’s top court, the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF), overturned the conviction and freed him from prison last year, allowing him to run. The court claimed the original court in Curitiba, southern Brazil, did not have jurisdiction to try him and the judge in the first instance, Sergio Moro, was personally biased. It never exonerated Lula of his alleged crimes or challenged any of the evidence against him.

President Joe Biden was among the first to congratulate Lula for his electoral victory through an official statement from the White House that read, “I send my congratulations to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on his election to be the next president of Brazil following free, fair, and credible elections.”

“I look forward to working together to continue the cooperation between our two countries in the months and years ahead,” Biden, under whom relations with Brazil deteriorated to unprecedented levels, said. Biden’s relationship with Bolsonaro is so tense that, in response to a candidate Biden threatening to destroy the Brazilian economy in 2020, Bolsonaro threatened war with the United States.

Communist Chinese dictator Xi Jinping also congratulated Lula for his victory through an official message sent to the president-elect on Monday. Xi said he “attaches great importance to the development of China-Brazil relations and stands ready to work with President-elect Lula, from a strategic height and long-term perspective, to jointly plan and lift China-Brazil comprehensive strategic partnership to a higher level so as to benefit the two countries and their people.”

Xi’s message of congratulations to Lula da Silva is similarly worded to the one sent to Jair Bolsonaro in September on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of Brazil’s independence. Despite his identity as a self-proclaimed anti-communist, Bolsonaro expanded economic ties with China as president and maintained friendly relations with Xi.

Russian state-run news agency Tass reported on Monday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin congratulated Lula for his victory via an official message on his Telegram channel. 

“Please accept my heartfelt congratulations on winning the presidential election. The vote’s results confirm your high political authority. I expect that our joint efforts will ensure further development of constructive Russia-Brazil cooperation in all areas,” Putin said in his message.

Canada’s far-left Prime Minister Justin Trudeau congratulated Lula da Silva via Twitter. 

“The people of Brazil have spoken,” he said, adding that he looked forward to working with Lula “to strengthen the partnership between our countries, to deliver results for Canadians and Brazilians, and to advance shared priorities – like protecting the environment.”

French president Emmanuel Macron also used his Twitter account to congratulate Lula through a message written in Portuguese that read, “congratulations, dear @Lulaoficial, for your election that begins a new chapter in the history of Brazil. Together, we will join forces to face the many common challenges and renew the bond of friendship between our two countries.”

Like Biden, Macron led France through arguably its worst period of diplomatic relations with Brazil in modern history. Macron repeatedly hectored Bolsonaro for allegedly allowing the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest, sometimes using disinformation such as anachronistic photos to make the point. Bolsonaro repeatedly took offense at Macron, referring to his attitude as “colonialism.”

The European Union’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell expressed his congratulations to Lula on Monday through an official statement in which he, on behalf of the European Union, also commended Brazil’s electoral authorities for the “effective and transparent manner it conducted” the presidential election.

In the case of leftist governments and authoritarian regimes in Latin America, most of them opted to express their messages of congratulations through their respective Twitter accounts.

Venezuela’s socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro congratulated his ideological peer through a tweet that reads, “we celebrate the victory of the Brazilian people, who this #30oct, elected @LulaOficial as their new President. Long live the peoples determined to be free, sovereign and independent! Today in Brazil democracy triumphed. Congratulations Lula! A big hug!”

In Cuba, the Castro regime’s puppet-president Miguel Díaz-Canel also used his Twitter account to express his congratulations. 

“They delayed your victory with heinous methods, but they couldn’t prevent you from winning with the vote of the people.  @LulaOficial returns, @ptbrasil [Brazil’s leftist Workers’ Party] returns, social justice will return,” the tweet read, apparently referring to Lula’s multiple convictions on corruption charges, overturned last year on dubious grounds by Brazil’s top court. The text was accompanied by a strangely low-resolution headshot of Lula.

Five minutes later, Diaz-Canel published a second post that read, “we embrace you, brother president Lula.” The short message was accompanied by a photograph of Lula da Silva next to Cuban dictator Raúl Castro and Diaz-Canel.

Nicaragua’s dictator Daniel Ortega, alongside his vice-president and wife Rosario Murillo, sent a letter to his “brother and partner” Lula da Silva in which they wished for a “happy beginning of a new stage of rights and accomplishments for Brazil.”

“With great joy we celebrate your well-deserved victory, praying to God for health, strength and much love to build together and encourage the future of your great country, the well-being of families, and continue contributing to the search for peace in the world,” the letter read.

Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s first leftist president, simply wrote, “Long live Lula.”

In a similar vein to his Colombian counterpart, Chilean president Gabriel Boric simply tweeted “Lula, joy!”

Far-left Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, during a press conference, expressed himself to be “happy, happy, happy” for Lula’s victory. 

Argentine President Alberto Fernández, a leftist who has offered his respects to the corpse of mass murderer Mao Zedong in Beijing, also congratulated Lula da Silva through a post on Twitter that read, “Congratulations @LulaOficial! Your victory opens a new time for the history of Latin America. A time of hope and future that begins today. Here you have a partner to work with and dream big about the good life of our peoples.”

Early Monday morning, Fernández, in a radio interview given to Argentina’s Radio Perfil, said that Lula can help “a lot in the work that we began with Andrés Manuel López Obrador to reunite the continent at a time when globalization is being called into question.”

Argentina’s vice president and former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner also congratulated Lula, writing, “today more than ever, love and lots of happiness. Thank you people of Brazil. Thank you, comrade Lula, for restoring joy and hope to our South America.”

Her message was accompanied by two pictures of Fernández de Kirchner alongside Lula and her late husband and former president Néstor Kirchner.

Peruvian President Pedro Castillo of the Leninist Free Peru party congratulated Lula by writing, “Peru congratulates the president-elect of Brazil, the comrade @LulaOficial, worker, trade unionist, fighter. His victory is essential to strengthen the unity of Latin America and the social justice of the Great Homeland.”

Bolivian president Luis Arce wrote, “Congratulations brother @LulaOficial, elected president of #Brasil! Your victory strengthens democracy and Latin American integration. We are sure that you will lead the Brazilian people along the path of peace, progress and social justice. Jallalla [‘Congratulations’ in Aymara] Brazil!”

Honduran president Xiomara Castro de Zelaya congratulated Lula by describing him as a “friend in solidarity with the struggle in Honduras (2009),” while saying that Lula “faced the most conservative powers in history, and together with the people of Brazil he has defeated them. Latin America is reborn with hope in a true humanist process of change and liberation.”

Former leftist presidents of Bolivia and Ecuador, Evo Morales and Rafael Correa, who had presided over their rspective countries during Lula’s second presidential term in Brazil also congratulated Lula for his electoral victory.

“Congratulations soul brother @LulaOficial for being elected president of #Brasil for the 3rd time. We are sure that he will return to work for the poorest and will restore the dignity and sovereignty of his country in its foreign relations. The Great Homeland hugs you brother,” Evo Morales said through his Twitter account.

“When Lula was imprisoned to prevent him from being a candidate, they not only stole his freedom, they also stole democracy from Brazil,” Rafael Correa said.

Correa compared Lula’s corruption allegations to his own, ominously warning, “In [Ecuador], the people’s revenge will be even greater.”

 

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.

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