Lula da Silva and Fernando Henrique Cardoso unite against Jair Bolsonaro

Before the enemies, now the allies. Two former presidents of Brazil, Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, left their old rivalry behind and held a meeting this Friday that will make history. They have something in common: their huge rejection of the current president, Jair Bolsonaro.

“The former presidents had a long conversation about Brazil, about our democracy and the Bolsonaro government’s disinterest in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic,” said a press office statement from Lula, leader of the Workers’ Party (PT) , who was president between 2003. and 2010.

Cardoso, 90, and Lula, 75, had lunch in São Paulo on Thursday at the invitation of former Federal Supreme Court judge Nelson Jobim.

The former magistrate is a former ally of Cardoso and served as defense minister during the Lula government.

Despite their historical differences, Cardoso and Lula began to give approach signs in the last few weeks.

The historic leader of the Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB), Cardoso, who also ruled Brazil for two terms (1995-2002), said that in an alleged poll in 2022 between Bolsonaro and Lula, I would elect the former union leader.

This week, Lula expressed his satisfaction at the words of Cardoso, whom he would also vote for if he faced Bolsonaro, a former right-wing soldier.

United against the far right

For more than 20 years, Cardoso and Lula have been almost irreconcilable adversaries, as have their respective parties, the PSDB and the PT, but this hostility has started to dissipate since Bolsonaro came to power in January 2019.

Lunch reconciliation held this Thursday between Cardoso and Lula can be read in a political context marked by frequent speeches and authoritarian measures by Bolsonaro.

The meeting is also part of Lula’s strategy to form a “Frente Amplio” with evenings at the center, like the PSDB, and even with leaders of conservative forces like the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB) and the Social Democratic Party (PSD), ahead of the presidential elections in October 2022.

Lula met the heads of the MDB and the PSD during his recent visit to Brasilia.

Alliances with politicians and businessmen

This policy of alliances with a broad ideological spectrum includes the possibility of adding entrepreneursLike Josué Gomes, son of José Alencar, the entrepreneur who was Lula’s vice between 2003 and 2010.

The possibility has also been considered that Lula integrates a formula in 2022 with businesswoman Luiza Trajano, who has expressed divergences from Bolsonaro’s health policy.

Gomes and Trajano both ruled out being part of Lula’s formula.

Free

The former left-wing president said this week for the first time that he would run for office next year, but did not say who his running mate would be.

Lula returned to political life fully in March, when the Federal Supreme Court overturned the charges against him in the Lava Jato anti-corruption process.

Thus, he regained his political rights lost since 2018 when, while in prison, he could not stand in the elections that Bolsonaro ultimately won.

A survey published on Friday by the consultancy firm Vox Populi indicated that Lula holds 43% of the voting intentions against 24% of Bolsonaro.

In another poll, published last week by Datafolha, Lula got 41% against 23% of Bolsonaro, in view of next year’s elections.

Bolsonaro, angry

For his part, Bolsonaro expressed his disappointment at the approach of Cardoso and Lula.

“This FHC (Fernando Henrique Cardoso) who now says he is going to vote for Lula. See what a hard face,” the president said Thursday evening, with his usual bellicose tone.

Bolsonaro called Lula a “nine-fingered thief” because he lost the little finger of his left hand in an accident at work while working as a steelworker.

Source: ANSA

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