The Erickson Report, Page 5: Brazil

The Erickson Report, Page 5: Brazil

Brazil's radical right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro is facing mounting opposition less than a year into his term. Among other causes are Brazil's teetering on the edge of recession, serious accusations of mounting violence against the indigenous population, a bungled speech opening the UN General Assembly, and international condemnation of his lackadaisical attitude towards fires burning the Amazon rainforest.

Now he has a new problem. 

On November 7, Brazil's Supreme Court overturned a three-year old law requiring convicted criminals to go to jail after losing their first appeal even as appeals continue, finding that the law violated the country's constitutional provision that no one can be imprisoned without due process.

Jair Bolsonaro

Among those benefiting from the decision was former leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, often known as "Lula." He had been serving an almost nine-year sentence on corruption charges seen by supporters as purely political.

That was a claim given credence in June by documents provided to The Intercept, which revealed that just days before filing the indictment, the chief prosecutor expressed what were described as "increasing doubts" over the central elements of the prosecution's case and then worked with the chief judge in the case, Sérgio Moro, on the best way to frame the case against Lula. Moro became Justice Minister in Bolsonaro's cabinet.

Those documents also showed that just 10 days before the 2018 presidential election, a Supreme Court justice granted a petition from the country’s largest newspaper to interview Lula in prison - prompting the prosecutors who handled Lula’s case to spend hours discussing how to block or undermine that decision based on an explicitly stated concern that such an interview could help Lula's party win the election. It seems hard to deny that political bias has a real impact on Lula's prosecution.

In the wake of the November 7 Supreme Court decision, Lula appealed for release from prison and was set free the next day. He is still convicted and could potentially wind up back in prison after his appeals are exhausted, but that could take a couple of years.

Lula da Silva

In the meantime, while he can't run for political office before 2025, he can participate in politics. As someone who left office in 2010 with what has been described as "sky high" approval ratings because of having, among other things, pursued policies that lifted millions out of poverty, he proposes to be a real thorn in Boloanaro's side.

The day after his release, Lula, the first-ever working class president of Brazil, spoke to a rally of supporters, focusing on defeating Bolsonaro and improving the economic conditions of the working class, who he accused Bolsonaro of impoverishing. As one analyst put it, Lula does not have to run for office to take center stage, making him a rallying point for a re-energized left.

Bolsonaro responded by telling reporters to "not give space to compromise with a convict" and calling on his own supporters to rally around his government's agenda, which has included exactly the severe tightening of public spending of which Lula accused him.

Watch this space.