Brazil’s moment of glory

Brazil has changed in the past years and even though poverty and inequality continue to exist in Sao Paulo’s poorest areas, those changes are evident. Brazil’s most important banks have opened branches in two of this city’s largest slums, surrounding the area there are restaurants, supermarkets and electronic shops…. This talks about how much purchasing power has changed. President Lula Da Silva is credited for taking around 20 million people out of poverty and it’s in these areas where those changes are seen the most…

There is an air of tranquility in Brazil if you compare it to previous elections. In the past, there was uncertainty before an election. More than that, there was fear about the policies that someone like Lula Da Silva, a former labour union leader, could bring about. But Lula continued in the same direction and intensified the social programmes to help the country’s poor.

In this election, both candidates say that they will continue with the economic policies that have positioned Brazil as the 8th economy in the world. There are some slight differences but no chances that it will change the way. Those policies were initiated by Fernando Enrique Cardoso and capitalized by Lula.

There are other concerns, though, being played out in this election. Religion is one of them. That’s one of the issues that worries people like Oscar Guillermo Farah Osorio. He says that if Dilma Rousseff wins this election, abortion in Brazil will become legal. “Nobody denies that Brazil is better but Dilma Rousseff has supported abortion and this country is a catholic one”, he told me.

The truth is that on Sunday most of the country will vote for those changes and even though Dilma Rousseff was forced to second round, Brazil’s poor are the ones that will probably turn her into this country’s first female president.  Some recent polls show that 19 per cent of the people that have increased the purchasing power is planning to buy a home. Another poll suggests that over 8 million Brazilians will be able to get on a flight for the first time before the end of the year….. So there is a middle class that is slowly emerging.

Of course there are many challenges ahead. …After all this is one of the most unequal countries in the world. Among those challenges is education, healthcare, corruption and a strengthening of the country’s institutions. After all,  it is this  what will help Brazil to finally turn into a developed nation.