Lula Returns to Vila Euclides to Kick Off Fourth-Term Campaign

Former union leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, now 80, will address thousands of Workers’ Party (PT) supporters at Vila Euclides in São Bernardo do Campo, the stadium where his 1979-80 metal-worker strikes first propelled him to national prominence. Lula is expected to fire the starting gun for the October presidential election, which analysts say will be tightly contested. Jair Bolsonaro is barred from running after a 27-year prison sentence for an alleged coup plot; his son, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, is the PT’s main rival.

The Guardian

In late 1979 and early 1980, tens of thousands of metalworkers gathered on the same pitch to demand higher wages and an end to Brazil’s military dictatorship. Photographers Jesus Carlos and Fernando Ferreira documented the protests, which later were credited with helping restore democracy in 1985. Lula, then a 33-year-old union chief, co-founded the Workers’ Party (PT) in 1980 and eventually became Brazil’s first working-class president in 2002.

The Guardian

The ABC industrial region, once a “red belt” of left-wing support, has shifted rightward in recent years. Only one of its seven cities currently has a PT mayor, and São Paulo’s governor, Tarcísio de Freitas, a Bolsonaro ally, is expected to win re-election. Commentators note that external factors, such as U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Brazilian imports and diplomatic moves, could influence voter sentiment.

The Guardian

Poet-activist Dalila Teles Veras lamented the region’s rightward drift, saying the sons of the original union leaders now “subscribe to fascist ideas.”

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• “I was a photographer – but before being a photographer I was a leftie,” — the former Communist party

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• “I don’t think it’s going to be a walkaway,” — Lula’s American

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• “It was more exciting than a local derby between Corinthians and Palmeiras. It was thrilling. You thought: can this really be happening in my city? It gave you goose bumps.” — Ademir Medici, a former newspaper editor

The Guardian

• “If Lula turned up on Marechal Deodoro [São Bernardo’s main street] he’d be booed,” — Ademir Medici, a former newspaper editor

The Guardian