Lula returns as Brazil president

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is set to be inaugurated yesterday for a third term as Brazilian president, in a ceremony snubbed by outgoing leader Jair Bolsonaro.

The swearing-in will cap a remarkable political comeback for 77-year-old Lula, who returns to the presidential palace in Brasilia less than five years after being jailed on controversial, since-quashed corruption charges.

In a sign of the scars that remain from Lula's brutal election showdown with far-right ex-army captain Bolsonaro in October, security will be exceptionally tight at the pomp-filled ceremony in the capital.

Bolsonaro himself left Brazil for the US state of Florida Friday -- reportedly to avoid having to hand the presidential sash to his bitter enemy, as tradition dictates. The snub has hardly dampened the party spirit for Lula and the 300,000 people expected at the ceremony. Foreign dignitaries including 17 heads of state will also be in attendance.

Lula faces numerous urgent challenges for Latin America's biggest economy. They include rebooting economic growth, curbing rampant destruction of the Amazon rainforest and delivering on his ambitious poverty- and inequality-fighting agenda. An estimated 30 million of Brazil's 215 million people are living in hunger, and the economy is still struggling to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.