Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was this week cleared by a court to return to politics.
Credit: Victor Moriyama /Bloomberg
As Brazil’s hard-Right president Jair Bolsonaro addressed the nation this week with a rambunctious attack on his rivals, keen-eyed observers would have noticed a strategically placed globe on his desk.
In his heated speech, broadcast on Facebook Live, the president’s preferred medium, a clearly rattled Mr Bolsonaro attacked the country’s former Left-wing leader, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who this week was cleared by a court to return to politics.
The addition of the globe, slowly revolving globe on the desk in front of him, was a direct response to cutting claims in Lula’s comeback speech that Mr Bolsonaro was a "flat-earther".
Mr Bolsonaro has been widely condemned during his two years at the helm of Latin America’s largest economy for climate denial and Covid scepticism.
The country is now gripped by one of the world’s worst coronavirus crises. Hospitals are strained and death toll records are broken daily, while restrictions are loose. Global experts are calling for a science-based plan to save the country from becoming a "natural laboratory" for new variants.
Enter Lula, as he is affectionately known by millions of adoring Brazilians.
On Monday, a Supreme Court decision quashed the former trade union leader’s corruption convictions and reinstated his political rights, setting up a showdown between the leftist icon and Mr Bolsonaro in next year’s presidential election.
Former Brazilian President Lula da Silva receives a dose of the Sinovac's coronavirus vaccine
Credit: REUTERS
Lula, who served as president between 2002-2010, and was once referred to by Barack Obama as the "the most popular politician on earth", gave a widely-praised speech on Wednesday, reinforcing the importance of vaccination and social distancing to help curb Brazil’s Covid-19 crisis.
Criticising Mr Bolsonaro’s catastrophic pandemic response, the former president claimed Brazil "has no government".
Lula’s words were lauded by political actors on the Left and Right, some of whom referred to the leftist icon’s speech as "statesmanlike".
"You don’t have to like Lula to understand the difference between him and Bolsonaro", said former House Speaker Rodrigo Maia. "One has a vision for the country, while the other can’t see past his own belly button".
In response to Lula’s attacks, Mr Bolsonaro feigned a U-turn on his pandemic stance, claiming he has never called Covid-19 a "little flu" and has not cast doubt over the efficacy of vaccines.
Indeed, the former Army captain has referred to the disease as a "little flu" on several occasions, including during a speech on national television in March of last year.
"In my case, due to my past as an athlete, if I were to be contaminated by the virus I wouldn’t have to worry, I wouldn’t feel anything, at most a little flu or a cold", the Brazilian president said at the time.
In his Facebook Live address on Thursday, he barked back at Lula. "I am the most important person right now," he said.
"That sack of meat said yesterday that I should speak to [science minister] Marcos Pontes, who has been to space, and ask him if the Earth is round. Look at the quality of my science minister and that criminal’s cabinet and then we’ll talk".
Lula has not yet declared if he will stand
Credit: Alexandre Schneider /Getty Images South America
Lula, a former trade union organiser, has not yet declared if he will stand. However, he has hinted: "I am 75 years old. I say jokingly that I have the energy of a 30 year-old.”
This week Mr Bolsonaro doubled down on his strict opposition to enforcing lockdowns in Brazil, after the country’s most populated state São Paulo enacted its toughest restrictive measures yet amid the overloading of its hospital network.
Claiming that lockdowns lead to an increase in suicide figures, the president proceeded to read aloud the alleged suicide note of an indebted Brazilian worker.
With 19 months to go until the election, Brazil expects a fiery and polarised contest between the country’s two most popular political figures.
In a TV interview on Monday evening, President Bolsonaro said he believes "the Brazilian people do not want a candidate like [Lula] in 2022".
However, recent opinion polls signal mounting support for the former president.
A survey released on Friday showed Lula and Mr Bolsonaro neck-and-neck in a statistical tie, with nothing to choose between them in a potential run-off vote.
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