Thousands of Brazilians were already celebrating this Saturday in the streets of Brasilia before witnessing the inauguration of the president-elect, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, which they hope will be an appointment "historical".
The progressive leader will take office on January 1 of his third term, after having governed in two periods, between 2003 and 2010, before delegations from more than fifty countries and in the midst of a great party that is expected to be attended by 300,000 people .
Hundreds of supporters of the old mechanical turner are camped in the Mané Garrincha stadium. Many of them have arrived in caravans from the most remote corners of this continental country of more than 200 million inhabitants.
Elizete Oliveira is 28 years old and is a member of the Landless Movement (MST). He has arrived after a 25-hour bus trip from the state of Piauí to the soccer field in the Brazilian capital.
But, despite the "exhausting" journey, tells EFE that he comes with all the "animation" and full of "hope". "It was a victory of the people. We have come here to celebrate and to commemorate"he pointed.
Iara Pimental, a councilor for the Workers’ Party (PT) in the municipality of Montes Claros, in the state of Minas Gerais, shared the same sentiment and stressed that, with Lula, a time of "reconstruction".
"We have great expectations because they were four years of great sadness, great misery and the withdrawal of rights, and now we have to build this nation"he pointed out in reference to the administration of the outgoing president, the far-right Jair Bolsonaro.
Lulistas supporters camped in Mané Garrincha also received a visit this Saturday from the future Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sônia Guajajara, recognized this year by Time magazine as one of the hundred most influential personalities in the world.
She and the other 36 ministers appointed by Lula will take up their posts on the 2nd.
Gatherings of PT militants and social movement activists also take place in other parts of Brasilia, a city that has shielded itself for Lula’s inauguration.
The police operation will mobilize some 15,000 agents, amid threats from radical right-wing groups.
Lula will assume power without the presence, in any of the planned acts, of Bolsonaro, who the day before headed for the United States, with no official return forecast.
Although, sources from his personal environment cited by the local press indicate that the retired Army captain intends to spend at least three months outside the country.