Lula's re-election: a quasi-dictatorial continuity and insecurity for the Americas

By: Carlos Sánchez Berzaín - 26/10/2026

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Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, organizer of the São Paulo Forum and the only living founder of 21st-century socialism—surviving its mentors Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez—has proclaimed his electoral victory as president of Brazil for the fourth time, despite Flávio Bolsonaro, the winner of the first round, denouncing the "annulment of the elections." For obvious reasons of impunity, Lula has resisted relinquishing power, and his fourth presidency will perpetuate a divided Brazil, ensure continued support for dictatorships, and maintain insecurity throughout the Americas.

Electoral processes under 21st-century socialism have been rife with proven fraud and manipulation in Venezuela, under Chávez and Maduro; in Nicaragua, under Ortega and Murillo; in Bolivia, under Morales and Arce; in Ecuador, under Correa; in Colombia, under Petro; and in Argentina, under the Kirchners. These practices have also been denounced in Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Mexico, and throughout Latin America. Changing systems, laws, and subservient judges, manipulating voter registries, and using the courts to disqualify opponents have been common practices for manipulating election results in the region.

Twenty-first-century socialism has disrupted electoral practices by altering social morality. Through populist rhetoric, it has legalized electoral bribery by promoting collectivist groups with economic and in-kind incentives, institutionalized government bonuses using state resources as campaign funds, normalized the "reputation assassination" of opponents, and, above all, practiced the division of democratic resistance and opposition forces by creating "functional opposition." The struggle for power has always been fierce, but clear rules and impartial judges ensured outcomes that, in the hands of twenty-first-century socialism, are unpredictable.

Lula is one of the actors in the degradation and manipulation of the electoral system in the Americas as a leader of 21st-century socialism or Castro-Chavismo, which he has imposed, extended, and improved as his methodology, under Fidel Castro's rule that "power is not surrendered."

In addition to the gradual alteration of the Brazilian electoral system and the infiltration of the justice system with loyalists, Lula has supported all kinds of electoral fraud, manipulation, and crimes throughout the Americas, including human rights violations. Examples include his unconditional support and subservience of Brazilian foreign policy to sustain and enable the crimes of narco-terrorist Nicolás Maduro, who is now facing justice; his current support for the dictators Ortega and Murillo in Nicaragua; his efforts and trips to preserve the dictatorship of Morales and Arce in Bolivia; his support for Petro in Colombia; his pretext of anti-imperialism; and more.

Lula will not relinquish power; this is the doctrine of the dictator Castro, and Lula is the last Castroite with real power. His mission is to sustain the system of permanent aggression against freedom and democracy, founded on transnational organized crime, which has been crumbling since the geopolitical shift initiated by the United States in 2025. Flávio Bolsonaro's announcements to annul the elections are met with resistance from the system, the judges, and the fait accompli.

The effects of Lula's victory are very serious for a divided Brazil, where citizen insecurity due to crime is one of the consequences of Lula's government. This includes a crisis of institutional credibility and judicial manipulation. Everyday fear is expressed in the fact that "a large part of the population, up to 81%, fears being caught in urban shootouts" and that "nearly 65% ​​avoid going out at certain times due to the risk." Organized crime has become structured on a large scale with the First Command of the Capital (PCC) and the Red Command (Comando Vermelho).

Support for the dictatorships in Cuba and Nicaragua, and resistance to the return to democracy in Venezuela and Bolivia, is guaranteed by Lula because he has no reason to change what he has done during his three previous terms and his extension of that policy with Dilma Rousseff. Brazil is and will continue to be the main para-dictatorial government serving the Cuban dictatorship and all criminal expressions of political power, which are retreating due to the rise of peoples who want freedom.

Lula's reelection is a signal in favor of his protégés and criminal partners—who are celebrating—such as Raúl Castro, Miguel Díaz-Canel, Nicolás Maduro, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, Evo Morales and Luis Arce, Rafael Correa, Gustavo Petro, Cristina Kirchner, Pedro Castillo, and their criminal groups who continue to subjugate and resist the liberation of the people through weapons and narco-terrorism. It is a sign of insecurity for the Americas, which are no longer defenseless, but it is also a reminder that the struggle for freedom is not easy and continues.

* Lawyer and Political Scientist. Director of the Interamerican Institute for Democracy.

«The opinions published herein are the sole responsibility of its author».