After enduring lawfare, jail and persecution, Lula da Silva was once again elected president in Brazil. He won this Sunday in the ballot, of the presidential elections, by obtaining 50.90% of the votes.

The Cuban president had expressed satisfaction with the electoral victory of the leader of the Workers’ Party, whom he congratulated on behalf of the Cuban government and people.

Venezuela and Brazil agree to resume binational cooperation agenda
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and the newly elected Brazilian president agreed to resume the binational cooperation agenda between the two countries.

“I had a good telephone conversation with the president-elect of the Federative Republic of Brazil,” the president said on his Twitter account.

“We agreed to resume the Binational Cooperation Agenda between our countries. We appreciate your willingness!” he stated.

Maduro also revealed that the Brazilian labor leader sent his greetings and commitment to all the people of Venezuela.

“We are willing to work hard to strengthen Latin America and the Caribbean and for the economic and social development of our peoples,” the head of state wrote on the social network.

Lula after speaking with dozens of heads of state: “We are returning to the world”
The Brazilian president said on Tuesday that he has spoken with dozens of heads of state, and “all want to expand alliances and joint work with Brazil on trade, on climate issues and on major global issues.”

“We are returning to the world,” Lula da Silva highlighted on his Twitter account.

(With information from Prensa Latina)

The elected president, the leader of the Workers’ Party, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, obtained 50.90% of the votes (60,345,999), with an advantage of 1.80 points (+ 2,139,645 votes) over his opponent, the far-right Jair Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro, who until this Sunday was running for re-election, finished with 49.10% of the votes (58,206,354).

The website of the Superior Electoral Court reported an attendance at the polls of 79.41% (124,252,796) of voters and an abstention of 20.59% (32,200,558).

118,552,353 valid votes (95.41%), 3,930,765 invalid votes (3.16%) and 1,769,678 blank votes (1.43%) were counted.

Source: Supreme Electoral Court.

On this day, more than 156 million Brazilians were enabled to go to the polls and elect the candidate of their choice. At 5:00 p.m. (local time) the polling stations closed and the vote count began.

Now in the streets of Brazil it is celebrated. In addition, reactions arrive from different parts of the world. Among them, those of the leaders of Venezuela, Mexico and Bolivia.

Other figures in the region have sent their congratulations through the social network Twitter, such as the vice president of Colombia, Francia Márquez, and former presidents Evo Morales and Rafael Correa, of Bolivia and Ecuador, respectively.

The results give the leftist Lula da Silva 48.13% of the vote compared to 43.46% for the far-right Bolsonaro with 98.67% of the vote. The night was bittersweet for the head of state who went from leading the count from the beginning to seeing how his opponent overtook him at the end.

The results leave Lula below what the polls predicted, while Bolsonaro has managed to add more than expected for his re-election.

The count released by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) allows us to foresee that the leader of the Workers’ Party (PT) will have to face the far-right leader in a second round, scheduled for October 30, to define the Presidency.

In accordance with Brazilian electoral legislation, the two candidates with the most valid votes in the first round, that is, the blanks and the null votes have been discounted, must be measured in a ballot in the event that no candidate obtains more than half of the votes. .

The senator of the center-right Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB), Simone Tebet, gave another surprise by coming in third position (4.21%), after surpassing the center-left and former Lula minister, Ciro Gomes (3.05%). Both will be decisive in the second round and this Sunday they got fewer points than expected, to the benefit of the two main candidates, which shows the extreme polarization that Brazil is experiencing and predicts a very close second round.

“Some turbulent weeks await Brazil before the second round on October 30. No matter who wins the presidency, Bolsonarism will be very much alive in Congress and the Senate. If Lula wins, he is likely to face fierce resistance,” political analyst Oliver Stuenkel wrote on Twitter.

Brazilians also voted to elect the 513 deputies, a third of the senators, the governors, as well as hundreds of state and Federal District deputies.

In the three most populous states, Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio Janeiro, candidates for governor allied with Bolsonaro won. In these last two states, even in the first round.

Lula: “We are going to win the elections. This is just an extension.”
A few minutes after the final result of the vote was known, the candidate of the Workers’ Party (PT), Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, celebrated tonight the victory in the first round of the Brazilian elections and affirmed that he has “the certainty” that it can be imposed in the ballot scheduled for October 30.

Lula spoke after 10 p.m. from his bunker set up in a hotel in the center of the city of São Paulo, where he was accompanied by his wife “Janja”, his running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and former president Dilma Rousseff, and members of his party. .
The candidate to reach the presidency of Brazil for the third time challenged President Jair Bolsonaro to a new debate and highlighted that “all elections were in the second round” throughout history. “We are going to win the elections. This is just an extension,” he noted.

“Excuse me, the journalists, the allied parties, but we are going to have to work harder, we are going to have to convince Brazilian society, and convince the other political forces” ahead of October 30, Lula said.

After the defeat this Sunday in Sao Paulo, the city where he began his political career, the former president said that he hopes to turn the adverse result around. “Sao Paulo will be a confrontation of proposals for society and I am going to make every effort and I am certain that together we are going to win São Paulo and we are going to win Brazil”, he stressed.

Lula also called on his followers to gather on the traditional Avenida Paulista, to celebrate and gain strength for the second stretch of the campaign. “You know that our country is worse, that the economy is worse, that we have to recover that country,” stressed the PJ candidate, who said: “Unfortunately for some, I have thirty more days of campaigning.”

“I like the campaign, I love discussing with Brazilian society and it will be important because for the first time there will be a face-to-face debate with the president of the republic to find out if he is going to continue telling lies or if he is going to tell him the truth to the Brazilian people”, he emphasized when requesting another meeting with Bolsonaro.

In that sense, he pointed out: “It is a second chance because that debate was not worth much, that debate had strange people.”

(With information from the NA news agency)

The former president reached 44% in favor of the total number of respondents, which represents one point below the previous investigation by the institute revealed on August 17.

For his part, Bolsonaro obtained 32%, Ciro Gomes of the Democratic Labor Party (PDT) 8%, Simone Tebet of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB) 3%.

Meanwhile, Vera Lucia Pereira Da Silva Salgado of the Unified Socialist Workers Party (PSTU) and Felipe D’Ávila of the Partido Novo reached one percent in the survey where the undecided represented 6%.

Similarly, Quaest revealed that although the possibility of a possible victory for Lula in the first round is not ruled out, the PT leader would win with 51% in a possible second round while Bolsonaro would achieve 37%.

On the other hand, the Ipec research institute carried out a survey in four states and the Federal District where the advantage of the former president in the most populous states of the country is evident.

According to the study, Lula obtained 40% against Bolsonaro’s 31% in São Paulo and 45% in Minas Gerais for an advantage of 15 percentage points.

In Rio de Janeiro, the former president obtained 39% compared to 36% for the current head of state. However, due to the margin of error, the three points are declared a technical draw.

Meanwhile, the PT candidate will visit the capital of the state of Amazonas, Manaus, on Wednesday, where he will meet with 35 entities and social movements as part of his electoral campaign.

(With information from teleSUR)

p>(Prensa Latina)

Lula realiza visita a Cuba. Foto: AIN

Cuba´s President Raul Castro held a working meeting with the former president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is visiting the island.

During their Tuesday night meeting, the two leaders exchanged views on the excellent state of relations between their two nations, and talked about different international issues.

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, Foreign Trade and Investment Minister Rodrigo Malmierca, and Brazilian Ambassador Jose Eduardo Martins attended the meeting, Cuba’s nightly TV news program reported.

The former South American statesman, who was received at the capital´s Jose Marti Airport on Tuesday by the Cuban foreign minister, has visited this country four times as president, most recently in February 2010.

Brazil and Cuba have excellent bilateral relations in cooperation, economy and trade, health, and training, among other areas.

Brazil has historically voted in the UN for Cuba´s resolution against the U.S. economic, financial and trade blockade against the island.

(Stenographic Versions – Council of State)

Dear President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva;

Brazilian friends;

Distinguished representatives of the Diplomatic Corps and of the various Brazilian state institutions:

I am extremely pleased to be in Brazil today on an official visit as I promised our friend President Lula, a visit that is intended to further strengthen the historic relations between our peoples.

The ties of brotherhood between Cuba and Brazil have continued being reinforced throughout the years, enriched by a cultural identity which emanated from our roots. The only thing missing in this human closeness was the increase of the economic ties which multiplied under Lula’s government.

I would like to express my gratitude for the immediate solidarity aid of the Brazilian government to the Cuban people after the passing of three hurricanes that hit our country this year and caused material losses that amounted to millions and were equal to almost 20% of the GDP this year; in other words, close to 10 billion dollars.

Being in Brazil allows me to personally express what I have already communicated to President Lula in a letter: our condolences for the losses in human lives and material damages brought about by the floods in Santa Catarina State. I do so on behalf of a people who know all too well what it means to face up to disasters such as those.

I also thank Brazil for its permanent rejection of the economic blockade that has been imposed on us for almost 50 years and for the recent statements of solidarity and the demand for respect for Cuba by the Brazilian Congress.

Step by step, we Cubans and Brazilians, speaking with our own voices, respectfully and without intermediaries, have been sharing mutual positions in upholding international law, multilateralism, the right to self-determination of peoples, rejection of any attempts by any state to impose its will on others, and together we have the firm resolve to work for greater Latin American political coordination and for an integration that is more in line with social justice and the dignity of human beings.

At our recent meeting, we were remarking that we Latin Americans have now become of age, that we wish to speak for ourselves and have our full say to the northern neighbours in our continent as well as to Europe, Asia and the entire world, and we have to take steps that lead to that situation we have been aspiring to for centuries.

The meeting we have just concluded –summit meetings, because they were four, and Cuba participated in three of them – is the first step along that long road, but we have already covered a very large stretch in that lengthy road; what remains is not that long; it depends on Latin Americans, it depends on us getting rid of our complex, it depends on us being steadfast in our representation of the interests of our peoples before the greatest powers on the planet.

Cuba has been an experience during this half century. We accept friendship and difference with others. We have had to live some of these 50 years pushed back into a corner, but defending ourselves unwaveringly. Such resolve has demonstrated that our cause was just. Thus I can speak on behalf of a free and independent people, before the dear and big brothers and sisters of the Latin American continent: the people of Brazil, the prosperous and increasingly powerful Brazilian nation.

I shall not go on much longer. It has been said that Fidel’s speeches were long, not as long as those given by Chávez, and I have a reputation of being more to the point; I am not as intelligent as they are and I cannot speak about many things, much less off the top of my head; but in this case, it isn’t necessary for me to go on for very long.

I am not going to talk about trade, the progress we are making, the imbalance that we will balance out little by little, to the extent of our possibilities as a small country as compared to Brazil, but it is getting done and President Lula has referred to this; I share his words, from the beginning to the end of his speech –I think it deserves a short round of applause. (Laughter and applause)

Speaking about the summit we have just had in Salvador de Bahía, I was telling you that it is one more step on the complex road to the integration of the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean. And in that undertaking, respecting our differences, Cuba shall make every effort to attain this objective.

At a time in which the world is entering a crisis of unpredictable consequences –because all Nobel Laureates in Economics and all those on the planet who know the most about economics have not yet been able to come to any agreement about what the end of this road will be, only that it will fall more heavily on the poorest, as usual–, it is correct to believe, as that universal Brazilian, Oscar Niemeyer, would say, that the important thing is to always have the idea of a better world deep in our hearts, and if misfortunes multiply and darkness envelops us, it is worthwhile to light the lamp and take a risk. That is what we have done in Cuba.

For all of the above, I toast to this embrace in Brasília, thinking of the man who opened up the way and is accompanying us from Havana, Comrade Fidel Castro, in his affection for the Brazilian people and for you, Lula, in the unswerving faith he has always had that the virtues of the people and of mankind will prevail, and in his infinite conviction, which is the same of José Martí’s, that our America can save itself only if it is united.

Early this morning I arrived in Brazilia from Salvador de Bahía, where we met briefly with three other presidents: Chávez, Evo Morales and President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras; and we are leaving, again, in the early morning tomorrow. I’m not being thrown out; I’m leaving because I’m afraid I’m going to fall in love with Brazil and its people. (Laughter)

Thank you very much. (Applause)