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It was Lula

According to localcollegeexplorer, the ascent to the presidency of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, from the Workers’ Party of Brazil in 2002, winning the second round of the 2002 general elections and his subsequent inauguration in January 2003, marked the beginning of a new stage for the country., in which a government of the natural left acceded after several years of dictatorship and neoliberalism.

Its main social program, “Beca Familia”, which aimed to attend in 2007, to 13.2 million families, it is considered the largest income transfer program in the world, with resources of about $ 10.5 billion reais in 2007. In the field of education, the “Lula” da Silva government managed to achieve strong levels of schooling in all areas, both university and primary, and in many regions of the country. In just 36 months, the non-schooled population was reduced between 18% and 29%, considering the group from 4 to 17 years of age. With the creation of FUNDEB (Basic Education Maintenance and Development Fund), the government served 47 million Brazilian students, with annual investments of up to R $ 7.3 billion. In the area of higher education, PROUNI (University for All Program), It stands out as the largest study scholarship program in the history of Brazilian and Latin American education, enabling thousands of young people to access education and stimulating the process of being included in society. In 2007, PROUNI offered 265 thousand scholarships in 1,985 institutions throughout the country. The government also invested in the creation of 11 new federal public universities, internalizing access to quality, public and free education.

In relation to infant mortality, the infant mortality rate (rate of children killed before reaching one year of age) fell from 69 per thousand in 1980 to 21.2 per thousand in 2010.

During Lula’s eight years, Brazil consolidated itself as a regional power, consolidating its ties with countries such as Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina and Uruguay as well as extending its relations with countries in the Central American and Caribbean area, especially Cuba, Mexico and Haiti. With the patronage of the government, the First Summit of the Unity of Latin America and the Caribbean was held in the city of Bahia in December 2008, an event that served to pave the way for the subsequent founding of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) of which Brazil is a founding member.

It was Rousseff

In January 2011, the 63-year-old economist, Dilma Rousseff, assumed the position of president of Brazil, becoming the first woman to hold the presidency of her country and vowing to “observe the laws” of the Amazonian giant. ^[16] . In her inauguration speech, Dilma said:

“I promise to uphold and defend the Constitution, observe the laws, promote the general good of the Brazilian people, uphold the unity, integrity and independence of Brazil”

During his mandate, Brazil has maintained a foreign policy based on the condemnation of all acts against the sovereignty of independent peoples, such is the case of the condemnation of the NATO invasion of Libyan territory. ^[17] . Also noteworthy is the zeal of his administration towards the environment, specifically the Amazon, a zeal that is evident with the partial veto of the Forest Code, in which amnesty was granted to the predators of the Brazilian jungle. ^[18]

In June 2012, Brazil was the scene of the Rio + 20 Summit in which more than 100 presidents and high-level delegations from the UN member countries met to discuss issues on the sustainable development of nations. ^[19]

On January 1, 2015 Dilma began her second term, after being re-elected with more than 50% of the votes in the second round against the Social Democrat Aécio Neves, who obtained 48.68. ^[20] . Representatives from more than 70 countries attended the event, including 14 leaders. In his inauguration speech, he assured that the priority of his Government’s foreign policy will continue to be Latin American integration, but without ceasing to strengthen ties with the United States, the European Union and Japan.

“We will keep as a priority (the integration of) South America, Latin America and the Caribbean,” said the president in the speech she gave before the plenary session of Congress after swearing in office to start a new four-year term. (…) With the BRICS, our strategic partners, we will advance in trade, in scientific and technological cooperation, in diplomatic actions and in the implementation of the BRICS Development Bank and a reserve contingency agreement…)

Removal of Dilma in August 2016

On February 12, 2015, Eduardo Cunha, then president of the Chamber of Deputies and a member of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), accepted the request to open the impeachment process against President Rousseff. Cunha accepted the request presented by the lawyers and jurists Hélio Bicudo, founder of Rousseff’s Workers Party (PT), Miguel Reale Junior, former minister of the Government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Janaína Paschoal.

Subsequently, on May 12, 2016, the Senate voted in favor of the impeachment against the president, this forced her separation from her position for a period of 180 days. During this period, the evidence that allegedly linked the estranged president with the named “fiscal pedals”, which means that the Government systematically delayed the sending of resources to the state-owned Banco do Brasil, Caixa Económica Federal, and the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), amounts that were supposedly used to pay for social programs before reelection in 2014. ^[21]

Rousseff was also accused of issuing three decrees without legislative approval, ignoring fiscal targets previously approved by Congress, an accounting strategy that, according to Rousseff’s defense, was previously used by several governments that are in opposition. The original complaint included allegations of corruption related to the Petrobras fraud, which were excluded by the then president of the Chamber of Deputies, Eduardo Cunha, who focused on fiscal misconduct. However, the defense of the estranged president described the impeachment that ended this Wednesday, August 31, as a “farce” because no corruption cases related to the Petrobras scandal were proven and the arguments of the prosecution were “weak”.

On June 27, the Brazilian Senate published a report prepared by its technicians indicating that there is no evidence against President Dilma Rousseff, which would demonstrate that the president participated in fiscal maneuvers that led to the opening of the impeachment against her in the High camera. ^{[22] It is} worth noting that 60% of the senators who tried Dilma are or were at the time formally accused of corruption charges. [23]

Finally and after the battle in Congress to prove her innocence on August 31, 2016 Dilma was removed from office with a vote of 61 senators in favor, and 20 against, of 81 in total. The final vote on the impeachment was divided into two rounds, one to decide on the removal of the president, and another on the political disqualification for a period of eight years. Minutes after voting for the removal of Dilma Rousseff, the Brazilian Senate voted separately – according to a request from the Workers’ Party – the disqualification for eight years from holding public office, which resulted in a victory for Rousseff, since the opposition did not reach the two thirds necessary to leave it out of the political game. The vote resulted in 41 votes in favor of disqualifying the former president, 36 against and 3 abstentions. over the total of 81 senators. Thus, the strategy proposed by the PT senators at the beginning of the session was a success. ^[24]

The fear

After the removal of Dilma, her vice president and openly promoter of what many countries with progressive governments in the region described as a “parliamentary coup”, Michel Temer assumed the presidency of Brazil quickly imposing an agenda of neoliberal restoration and dismantling of the achievements achieved during 13 years of PT management at the head of Brazil. The response to the crisis is, among other changes, to modify the pension and labor systems. Both are measures that seek to arouse internal support (business and other political rights) to dismantle the “lulista” advances. To re-endow the dominant power groups with the portion of dominance lost during the four previous governments and guarantee them profitability without interference from the State. ^[25] However, the program of the 2016 coup has been failing little by little. In the field of the economy, the dissemination, by the Central Bank itself, of a provisional index that points towards a fall in GDP in 2016 of the order of 4.55% is the culmination of failure. In the wake of this collapse comes unemployment, the contraction of income and the wage bill, the loss of the quality of life of those who make a living from their work. ^[26]

In the ethical-political sphere, the coup project also fails, despite all efforts to “stop the bleeding” of Lava Jato, such as Alexandre de Moraes’s instruction to the Supreme Federal Court and the shielding of Moreira Franco. Under pressure from Curitiba Eduardo Cunha launches warnings to the government. Cunha, former president of the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil and the main promoter of the impeachment trial against former president Dilma Rousseff, was sentenced to 15 years in prison after being found guilty of several crimes of corruption. ^[27] Rejection of the Temer government rose to 62% and his approval fell to 10%. In the polls for the presidential elections, Lula appears as the preferred one in any of the possible scenarios. It reaches 30% in the first turn if the candidate from Tucumán was Aécio Naves and 31% if it was Alckmin. The two leaders of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party lost electoral muscle. Marina Silva and the far-right Bolsonaro compete for second place.