Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will take office this Sunday for the third time as president of Brazil in a ceremony in Brasilia attended by 17 heads of state and government, including Alberto Fernández, and which will have a strong security operation in the face of recent incidents of violence by followers of outgoing president Jair Bolsonaro.
More than 300,000 people are expected for the celebration in the Brazilian capital, where the Festival of the Future will take place alongside the official ceremony, a party with more than 65 artists on two stages set up on the esplanade of the ministries.
“It is a complex event, the large concentration of people who will be present at these events demands very well-done planning. It will be a robust operation where the entire Brasilia police will be involved, in addition to federal forces,” said the Secretary of Security of Brasilia, Julio Danilo.
Danilo anticipated that there will be searches at specific points at the entrance to the Esplanade of the Ministrieswhere you will not be able to carry bottles or sharp elements.
Barely 30,000 people were authorized to enter the Plaza de los Tres Poderes, which is located in the middle of Congress, the Planalto Palace and the Federal Supreme Court, where they will be able to witness Lula’s entry into the government house as president.
Step by step of the ceremony
– 2:20 p.m.: The leader of the Workers’ Party (PT) is expected to arrive at that time at the Cathedral, at one end of the esplanade of the ministries, from where he will march to Congress, a two-kilometre journey, surrounded by thousands of followers. After the recent failed attack on the Brasilia airport by a Bolsonaro businessman and the violence registered during the campaign, the question is whether Lula will wear a bulletproof vest and if he will parade in the classic Rolls Royce of the Presidency or in an armored vehicle. He will be accompanied by his wife, Janja, and Vice Geraldo Alckmin, along with his wife.
– fifteen: In Congress, Lula and his deputy will be officially sworn into office in a solemn ceremony and the new president will give his first speech before the deputies, senators, representatives of international delegations and other authorities present.
– 4:30 p.m.: Now as president, Lula will go to the Planalto Palace, where he will receive the presidential sash, a protocol rite. Given the absence of Bolsonaro, who traveled to the United States yesterday, and the refusal of his vice president, Hamilton Mourao, to replace him, it is unknown who will place it. The future first lady, the sociologist Janja da Silva, organizer of the inauguration, has heard suggestions that this moment be carried out by Dilma Rousseff, president of the PT ousted in 2016, or by representatives of the people, such as workers, indigenous people and Afro-descendants. . Next, Lula will give a speech before the public present in the Plaza de los Tres Poderes.
– 17: Within the Planalto, the new president will receive the foreign delegations for a formal greeting and then he will swear in the 37 ministers of his Cabinet.
– 7:30 p.m.: Lula, his deputy Alckmin and their respective wives will go to the Itamaraty Palace, where a reception will be held for the foreign heads of state and government present in Brasilia.
