SAO PAULO (AP) — What is very likely to be the last reelection bid of Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was confirmed on Sunday by his Workers’ Party as the 80-year-old leader faces increasing pressure from foreign leaders ahead of October’s elections. It will be his seventh race for the top job.Lula’s rival, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, has enjoyed open support from members of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, Argentina’s President Javier Milei and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Brazil’s president said in his party convention speech he wants to boost his country’s defense industry, protect its rare minerals, and claimed “no Chinese, no American, no French will touch” these resources without respecting the South American nation’s sovereignty. “We will have to be much more daring to change a lot of things in this country,” Lula said.
Other members of his party highlighted the risk of foreign intervention in Brazil’s elections, pointing to Trump and Milei. However, “This election in Brazil determines the future of Latin America,” Edinho Silva, the Workers’ Party chairman, said during Sunday’s convention. Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia have elected Trump-inspired presidents in the recent past.Flávio Bolsonaro’s father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, was an ally of Trump but is now serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for an attempted coup.
