Brazil’s president-elect broke down in tears as he promised to mitigate Brazil’s surging hunger problem.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva spoke about his chief mission as the country’s leader after he narrowly managed to oust Jair Bolsonaro from office after just one term.
“If by the time I finish my term every Brazilian is eating breakfast, lunch and dinner, I’ll have fulfilled my life’s mission once more,” he said, before choking up.
According to the US Food and Agriculture Organisation, 61.3 million Brazilians are suffering from moderate or severe food insecurity, corresponding to 28.9 per cent of the entire population.
Lula justified his tears by saying he “never thought hunger would return to Brazil”.
“When I left the presidency, I thought that in 10 years Brazil would be on the same level as France, or as England, that it would have evolved from a point of view of social conquests.”
Lula’s first two terms as president, between 2003 and 2010, were characterised by his Zero Hunger (Fome Zero) programme, which made great strides in reducing levels of extreme poverty around the country.
Economic stagnation and the Covid pandemic have reversed some of these gains, and hunger once again became a key campaign talking point ahead of October’s election.
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