“Disappointed in Lula then?”

“Disappointed in Lula then?”

Nobody expected miracles. But it is now clear that, after the horrific years under Bolsonaro, the West had an idealized image of Lula, says Thomas Milz. “So, disappointed in Lula?” During my recent visit to Germany, friends and family wanted to know my opinion on President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s third term.




After four years under Jair Bolsonaro, who did not care about protecting native forests, made fun of the victims of the pandemic, failed to establish a relationship with Germany and was therefore also viewed very critically in the country, my friends were happy with Lula’s victory last time October.

The victory had given them hope that the environment and indigenous people would be protected. And, after Bolsonaro, supporter of the military dictatorship, they hope that Brazilian democracy will be strengthened.

But then they saw some news in the press: the first suspicions of corruption among Lula’s ministers, the increase in deforestation in the Cerrado, oil and raw materials exploration projects in the Amazon and infrastructure projects such as the BR 319, which threaten the forest Amazonian. They asked me if what was expected of Lula was the opposite?

Surprised, they saw Lula embrace China, an authoritarian regime, and not miss the opportunity to damage the West. His position that Ukraine is as responsible for the war as Vladimir Putin’s Russia was also met with utter incomprehension.

Maybe Brazil is just too far away from all this, and Brazilians certainly have other concerns than trying to understand the West’s position on Russia’s war of aggression, I’ve heard my friends and family say.

And am I also disappointed by Lula 3.0?, I asked myself. I’m certainly not surprised. I know all too well the anti-Americanism of the Latin American left. Lula’s positions in times of tension between the West and the “Global South” – if such a thing exists – are exactly as I imagine them.

As always, left-wing dictators are defended, whether in Cuba, Venezuela or Nicaragua, as well as authoritarian regimes such as Iran or China. Lula has never demonstrated that he has a solid Western-oriented moral compass. Lula, the Social Democrat, was only a brief interlude at the start of his first presidential term.

Fight against corruption and green agenda

It is also not surprising that the fight against corruption under Lula was completely left aside. Corruption, like public safety, has always been a weak point of Lula governments. As a pragmatist, Lula tried to get closer to the Centrão to guarantee governability. Past scandals, such as Mensalão in 2006 and Petrolão in 2013, have already demonstrated how harmful this closeness is.

That the Brazilian left, led by the PT, spreads the narrative of lawfare, i.e. the legal war against the Latin American left, and even claims that there has never been corruption, is risky, but certainly not new. This could already be felt during Lula’s caravan, at the beginning of the 2018 election campaign. At the time, the then former president, already convicted, could go to prison at any time and spread the thesis of legalism.

A thesis based on historical anti-Americanism: Lula was the target of the CIA’s hybrid war, as were Cristina Kirchner and Evo Morales. It may be that the Argentine Pope believes it: for me he is too abstruse. Instead of mea culpa, as PT supporters also demanded in the PT command around Lula during the Lava Jato era, what we have is zero blame.

Furthermore, I never really believed in Lula’s developmentalist “green cover”. The priority has always been Belo Monte, highways such as BR 319 (from Manaus to Porto Velho) and oil exploration in the Amazon. It was no surprise that Marina Silva threw in the towel in 2008.

The hope I place in Lula’s green agenda is much more based on the experience of Lula 2.0. I hope he understands Brazil’s green potential as softpower and uses it internationally. Brazil has a lot to offer in terms of climate and environmental protection, and Lula knows it. Maybe he remembers it.

My impression of the Amazon summit at the beginning of August, surrounded by great expectations, was therefore negative. Instead of the big announcement to save the rainforest, weak declarations without binding results. Friends told me that Lula has a great interest in the billions promised by the West to protect forests and the climate. For him it is a question of money and not of principles.

Of course it’s also a question of money, I think. Maybe my German friends are too naive. They expected Lula, the Idealist, and now they have difficulty with Lula, the Pragmatist.

Thomas Milz left his Protestant parents’ home almost 20 years ago and moved to the most Catholic country in the world. He has a master’s degree in Political Science and Latin American History and has been working as a journalist and photographer for publications such as the KNA news agency and the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper for 15 years. He is the father of a little girl born in 2012 in Salvador. After a decade in Sao Paulo, he has lived in Rio de Janeiro for four years.

The text reflects the opinion of the author, not necessarily that of DW.

Source: Terra

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