Lula is back, and Brazil is facing a perfect storm

The annulment of the corruption convictions against former President Lula threw the country into unprecedented political chaos.

The past year has been catastrophic for Brazil. The country not only lost 300,000 people to COVID-19 but also found itself in a deep political and economic crisis. President Jair Bolsonaro, whose anti-science response to the pandemic led to calls for him to be tried for crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court, is facing increasing pressure from governors across the country to start taking the crisis seriously and ramp up vaccination. The far-right president’s supporters, meanwhile, are regularly protesting in large numbers against the measures put in place by governors to stem the spread of the virus. The crisis has also had a significant negative impact on the country’s economy. The unemployment rate is expected to stand at 14.6 percent in 2021 – the highest in the country’s recent history. Bolsonaro responded to the mounting criticism of his pandemic policies and discourse by using legislation from the military dictatorship period to persecute and intimidate his opponents. He also tried to blame his administration’s inability to contain the virus on the judiciary, baselessly claiming that the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court has prevented him from introducing effective public health measures.