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President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva launched his campaign for a fourth and final term before thousands of supporters in S\u00e3o Bernardo do Campo, promising to keep fighting poverty and investing in Brazil\u2019s future. His challenger: Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, running in place of his father, former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest after being convicted of attempting a coup. US President Donald Trump has backed the Bolsonaros with tariffs, visa revocations, and open pressure \u2014 what experts call a new era of US dominance over Latin America.<\/p>\n
Michael Fox reports from S\u00e3o Paulo, with voices from Lula\u2019s campaign launch, evangelical Bolsonaro supporters on the streets of S\u00e3o Paulo, and foreign relations professor Igor Fuser.<\/p>\n
The campaigns are underway ahead of Brazil\u2019s October elections<\/p>\n
And U.S. President Donald Trump is doing his best to sway the vote\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cLula, Lula!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Thousands of supporters of leftist president Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva attended his campaign launch in mid August.<\/p>\n Karen Silva<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWe came to support Lula, especially in his last election.\u00a0And we believe that we are going to win.\u00a0This is a fact.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n They filled May 1st Stadium in Sao Bernardo do Campo\u2026.<\/p>\n A place, where Lula led an iconic metal workers strike and rally in 1979.<\/p>\n They say Lula has changed their lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n Raimunda Silva Santos<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cYeah, he changed my life. He changed the life of my whole family.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n During his years in office, he promoted education, health and social programs. He helped to lift millions from poverty. They have not forgotten.<\/p>\n Raimunda Silva Santos<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWow, this is the greatest joy of my life.\u00a0I\u2019m 76 years old.\u00a0I\u2019m so happy. Lula is coming to stay. He\u2019s an incredible person. He\u2019s helped a lot of people there in the northeast. We owe a lot to Lula.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n They want him back for a fourth and final term.<\/p>\n Valmir Lima, Movement of People Affected by Dams<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cLula will win with the strength of social movements, of the movements of people affected by dams,\u00a0all the social movements that are helping on his campaign.\u00a0And all of civil society.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Applause<\/em><\/p>\n Lula has promised to continue to fight poverty, promote industry, create jobs and invest in Brazil\u2019s future.<\/p>\n Lula<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWhat kind of a future do you want for the Brazilian people if you don\u2019t invest in education? What future do you want for the Brazilian people if you don\u2019t invest in health? What future do you want if you don\u2019t invest in jobs?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Lula<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWe need to win these elections. To elect our people to congress so we can do everything we need to do for this country.\u201d<\/p>\n Lula\u2019s challenger is the son of the former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro.\u00a0<\/p>\n His name is Flavio Bolsonaro. He\u2019s a Senator and he launched his campaign in his hometown of Rio de Janeiro.<\/p>\n Flavio Bolsonaro\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cCome with me and rescue our nation.\u00a0Brazil above all. God above everyone.\u00a0Brazil above all.\u00a0God above everyone!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Flavio is in the race, because his father is under house arrest.\u00a0<\/p>\n Former president Jair Bolsonaro was first barred from running for spreading lies about the country\u2019s electoral system. Last year, he was convicted of attempting to carry out a coup to return to power.<\/p>\n His son, Flavio, has attacked the left, and promised to fight crime and insecurity, cut bureaucracy, promote private business and privatizations, and develop close ties with the United States<\/p>\n He spoke at the US Conservative Political Action Conference in March.<\/strong><\/p>\n Flavio\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cLet me look you in the eyes and tell you,\u201cwe will win.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Much of his discourse, and that of his supporters, is wrapped in a religious language of good versus evil.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u00a0are the son\u00a0of hope.\u00a0You\u00a0are the first born. You received\u00a0the legacy\u00a0of representing\u00a0your father.\u00a0And now,\u00a0for everything that is more\u00a0sacred on the face\u00a0of the earth,\u00a0honor your\u00a0father.\u00a0Honor his days on earth.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n That goes over well with his evangelical supporters, an important base for Bolsonaro and far-right politicians in Brazil.<\/p>\n Glayson Araujo is a youth pastor at an evangelical church in a working class neighborhood of S\u00e3o Paulo. He joined others on the streets in mid August to promote Bolsonaro and other far-right candidates running for local office.<\/p>\n Glayson Araujo<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI believe that Flavio Bolsonaro is the only viable candidate,\u00a0who can beat Lula and the Workers Party.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Glayson Araujo<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI am a Christian here,\u00a0I behave as a Christian,\u00a0but I am also a political activist. Here on the streets to\u00a0defend my beliefs.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Flavio Bolsonaro also has powerful support in high places.<\/p>\n In particular\u2026 from Donald Trump.<\/p>\n The U.S. president is a longtime ally of his father, Jair Bolsonaro.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last year, Trump imposed 50% tariffs on Brazil, in part, because of the country\u2019s trial against the former president. In May, Trump met with Flavio Bolsonaro at the White House. In June, he reposted an article over Truth Social that said Brazil was his next big challenge. He recently imposed new tariffs on the country and revoked the U.S. visa of the Brazilian ambassador.<\/p>\n Igor Fuser is a professor of foreign relations at Brazil\u2019s ABC Federal University.<\/p>\n Igor Fuser<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThis is not just about the United States trying to remove the government of a left-wing party, the workers Party or a left-wing leader, which is Lula. It\u2019s about subjecting Brazil to the policies of the United States.\u00a0And Brazil, being the largest country in Latin America, is precisely the biggest obstacle to the American project of global dominance of the Western Hemisphere.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Over the last year, Trump has pushed the United States into a new era of dominance over Latin America the likes of which the region has not seen in decades.<\/p>\n Boat strikes in the Caribbean. The U.S. invasion of Venezuela and the kidnapping of president Nicolas Maduro. The oil blockade on Cuba.<\/p>\n And Trump throwing his weight around\u2026 and meddling in elections across Latin America.<\/p>\n It is all justified by a renewed Monroe Doctrine\u2026<\/p>\n Pete Hegseth<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201dPresident Trump has established the Trump corollary of the Monroe Doctrine, the Donroe Doctrine. And the War Department is implementing it as fast as we can.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Brazil is the latest battleground.<\/p>\n Igor Fuser<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cSo, it is clear that the United States is doing everything, and will do everything possible to prevent the re-election of Lula in the next elections.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Fuser says that if Flavio Bolsonaro wins, he will bow to Trump and the United States.<\/p>\n Igor Fuser<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cBrazil will become a country under the tutelage of the United States, a colony, or almost a colony, of the United States,\u00a0as it already happens with Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, and many others.\u00a0And if Lula is victorious in these elections, we will live a very intense period of confrontation between the two countries.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Fuser says the U.S. stated dominance over Latin America imposed by Trump is analogous to the control of the Soviet Union over the Eastern Bloc countries during the Cold War, under a Russian foreign policy imposed by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in 1968.<\/p>\n Igor Fuser\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cSo, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, all those countries were formally independent countries,\u00a0with their own government, their own laws, their representation in the United Nations,\u00a0but these countries were not autonomous, they did not have sovereignty.\u00a0Any movement that they made that clashed with the interests of the Soviet Union was repressed.\u00a0Some of them were invaded, etc. So, we are living in Latin America a Brezhnev Doctrine, capitalist, imperialist, dictated by Donald Trump.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Lula has accused Trump of trying to influence Brazil\u2019s October election. Lula\u2019s allies are taking action ahead of the vote\u2026. to stand up to Trump and to push for Lula\u2019s reelection. Brazil has denied visas to U.S. State Department officials who they feared wanted to travel to Brazil to cast doubt about the country\u2019s electoral system. People are hitting the streets to campaign for Lula, who has long stood against U.S. intervention in Latin America. Over the next two months, Brazil will be a key battleground for Latin American sovereignty against Trump\u2019s attack on the region.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n For The Real News, I\u2019m Michael Fox. Sao Paulo, Brazil.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n