Lula returns to office in Brazil

(Image credit: Mateus Bonomi/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

published 2 January 2023

Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva returned to Brazil's presidency on Sunday, starting a third term after serving between 2003 and 2010, CNN reports.

Former President Jair Bolsonaro, defeated by Lula in an October election, left the South American nation for Florida on Friday, after fueling threats of violence with baseless allegations about electoral problems, writes BBC. Lula took the oath of office promising to fight hunger, poverty, and racism, and rebuild a country in "terrible ruins."

The left-wing leader was in jail on corruption charges when Bolsonaro took office in 2019, but the conviction was later overturned. Lula blamed Bolsonaro's far-right policies for many of the country's problems, and said those who made mistakes under Bolsonaro would "answer for their errors."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.