Sao Paulo, Brazil
Voters overwhelmingly elected socialist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in this week’s presidential election runoff. Lula—as the former shoeshine boy, factory worker, and political prisoner is known—rode a backlash against the outgoing administration’s free-market policies and four years of economic stagnation. The nation’s first left-wing president in 40 years opposes George W. Bush’s plan for a hemisphere-wide free-trade zone, as well as U.S. military aid to Colombia and the embargo on Cuba. But Lula has moderated his most radical ideas, and promised to pay down Brazil’s debt and fulfill its obligations to the International Monetary Fund while easing poverty through increased social spending. “I have more hope than faith,” admitted one supporter.
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