How Bolsonaro's defeat leads the rise of left in Latin America

[Judi Lynn]

4 min read . Updated: 01 Nov 2022, 11:18 AM IST
Sharmila Bhadoria

Months of campaigning and massive polarisation yielded no results for Jair Bolsonaro, as he lost by a thin margin from the veteran leftist, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brazil's Presidential elections on Sunday.

Winner Lula da Silva prevailed over the incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro by winning 50.09 per cent of votes. With this, the drama that had entangled the Brazilian economy in a series of wrong decisions taken by Jair Bolsonaro has come to an end. Be it handling of COVID pandemic in the country or saving the Amazon, Jair Bolsonaro’s disastrous leadership left Brazilians fighting for their rights as basic as free speech.

The victory of Lula da Silva can help heal the Amazon
Jair Bolsonaro’s policy proved to be a major climate catastrophe. It was never only the environment, as his stance on the COVID pandemic, free speech, arms laws, and several other issues threw Brazil into a path of instability.

Talking about saving the Amazon rainforest, both the leaders, Jair Bolsonaro and Lula da Silva, claimed to reduce deforestation during their tenure. A close look at the Prodes report, shows that its results align with Jair Bolsonaro’s claim that deforestation was at its lowest during his tenure. However, the report also sheds light upon Lula da Silva’s efforts, which brought down deforestation to a historically low level by the time he left office in 2010. On contrary, the rate of deforestation increased annually under Jair Bolsonaro’s leadership.

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https://www.livemint.com/news/world/how-bolsonaro-s-defeat-leads-the-rise-of-left-in-latin-america-11667204550448.html