WATCH: Exclusive Interview by Glenn Greenwald With Former Brazilian President Lula da Silva
Demonstrators parade large inflatable dolls depicting Brazil’s former President Lula da Silva in prison garb and current President Rousseff dressed as a thief, with a sash that reads “impeachment,” in São Paulo, Brazil, March 13, 2016.
Photo: Andre Penner/AP
Meeting for presidential elections in São Bernardo do Campo circa 1989.-
A demonstrator holds a Brazilian flag with a sticker that reads in Portuguese, “Down with the coup, impeachment no,” during a protest in support of President Rousseff and former President Lula da Silva in São Paulo, Brazil, March 31, 2016.-Photo: Andre Penner/AP
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THE LIFE TRAJECTORY of Brazil’s former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (“Lula”) has been extraordinary. Born into extreme poverty, Lula left the presidential office in 2010, after serving two terms, with an unprecedented 86 percent approval rating, seemingly destined to enjoy almost universal respect on the world stage and to be remembered as one of modern history’s greatest statesmen. Similar to the post-office path of Tony Blair and Bill and Hillary Clinton, Lula, since his term ended, has amassed great personal wealth by delivering speeches and providing consulting services to global power centers. The moderately left-wing party he co-founded, the Worker’s Party (PT), has now controlled the presidency for 14 straight years.
But all of that, the entirety of Lula’s legacy, is now seriously threatened. A grave, widespread corruption scandal involving the national oil company, Petrobras, is engulfing Brazil’s economic and political elite, with PT at its center. His protégé and handpicked successor, the former anti-dictatorship Marxist guerrilla and current president, Dilma Rousseff, faces a credible impeachment threat (now supported by a majority of Brazilians) and widespread unpopularity due to an intractable, severe recession. Senior members of PT have been arrested and imprisoned. Massive street protests, both in favor of and against impeachment, have recently turned ugly, with physical altercations becoming increasingly common.
Lula himself has recently been implicated in the criminal investigation (known as Operation Car Wash), briefly detained by the federal police for questioning, accused by the former Senate leader of his party (turned informant) of “commanding” a massive bribery and kickback scheme, eavesdropped on by judicial investigators who publicly released recordings of his telephone calls, and charged formally with receiving and hiding improper gifts (including a house and a farm). As a result, his approval ratings in Brazil have dropped precipitously.
