In a carnival atmosphere, thousands of Lula supporters flocked Sunday morning to the esplanade of the Ministries of Brasilia to see the inauguration of the left-wing president-elect up close, dreaming of being “happy again”.
“Ring the maracas (percussion instruments, editor’s note), with Lula president, life will improve”, sings a group of natives in the middle of a traditional dance, their bodies covered with tribal paintings.
“I came to Lula’s inauguration because I don’t like Bolsonaro. Unlike Bolsonaro, Lula respects the natives, the first inhabitants of Brazil,” cacique Bepkriti Teseia, 42, from Brazil, told AFP. Para (north).
He wears a large headdress of yellow feathers and prefers to express himself in the traditional language of his people, even if it means being translated into Portuguese afterwards.
To access the immense esplanade of the Ministries, he had to face a mileage queue before going through the meticulous search of the very strict security system, with metal detectors.
And for those who want to be closer to Lula at the emblematic moment when he will climb the ramp of the Planalto Palace wearing the presidential sash, in the afternoon, you still have to walk for several kilometers along the esplanade. , before another excavation to access the Place des Trois Pouvoirs.
Among the people who wait like this, the atmosphere is good-natured. The activists, mostly dressed in red, chant “Lula, warrior of the Brazilian people!” or exclaim: “The Esplanade is ours!”.
Sofia de Souza Martins, 15, preferred to come in yellow and green, the colors of the Brazilian flag, which supporters of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro have long appropriated.
“These colors are for everyone!” Says this high school student who arrived by bus from Sao Paulo.
“I have always been very committed, thanks to the influence of my parents, who are also activists. I hope it will be a big party, so that we can be happy again,” she continues.
– Folk groups –
In the queue, a golden retriever adorned with a flag of the movement of Landless Peasants (MST) caused a sensation. But very quickly, Lula steals the show.
Not the “real” Lula, but a three-meter “boneco”, a traditional figure of the carnival of Olinda (north-east), which is also found among the “giants” of that of Dunkirk.
Along the esplanade, folk groups from all regions of Brazil set the tempo for the party.
Joliel Silva, 37, made the trip from Salvador de Bahia (northeast). “It’s a historic moment, let’s hope it will mark a turning point. We come out of a horrible term and find the best president Brazil has ever had,” said the young black man who carried an LGBT flag.
“Under Lula’s first two terms (2003-2010), I saw a lot of young black people like me go to university and the poor saw their purchasing power increase. My father was able to buy his first car,” he explains.
Loide Farias, 49, came from Curitiba, in southern Brazil. This blonde woman who wears a red cap remembers with emotion having suffered at the camp of activists set up opposite the headquarters of the Federal Police of Curitiba, where Lula was imprisoned for 18 months in 2018-2019 for corruption.
“Seeing Lula return to power is priceless! We saw him in prison, we cried a lot, we were afraid he would never come out, even if we always kept hope,” says -she.