MORE “BAD LUCK” FOR SOUTH AMERICA ON THE WAY: Bolsonaro falls as South America tilts toward socialism.

After a bruising campaign, the leftist former president of Brazil Lula Ignacio Da Silva appears to have won back control of the Palácio da Alvorada, the Brazilian presidential residence. Lula defeated conservative incumbent Jair Bolsonaro by the narrowest of margins and is now poised to bring back socialist leadership to the world’s fourth-largest democracy.

However, the result was by no means a blowout for Lula and his Workers’ Party, which polls had suggested could win a landslide victory. In reality, Bolsonaro outperformed expectations just by taking the vote to a second round, while his Social Liberal Party maintained control of Brazil’s congress.

Nevertheless, the outcome marks an incredible comeback story for the 77-year-old Lula. All the more so because he was sentenced to 22 years in prison as part of the notorious Operation Car Wash scandal, though his conviction was quashed on a technicality, allowing him to realize his ambition of running again for the presidency.

The result will be warmly welcomed by the Biden White House, which inevitably favored Lula over the man who was regularly dubbed the “Trump of the Tropics.” They will see him primarily as a key ally in the fight against climate change given that Bolsonaro was widely criticized for his alleged failure to protect the Amazon. While Biden was serving as vice president, Obama praised Lula as “one of the most popular politicians on earth” in reference to his high approval ratings. After his term finished, Obama even lobbied for him to become the next president of the World Bank, although plans for this never materialized.

What could go wrong? I’m sure “Hugo Chavez’s economic miracle” will repeat in Brazil, right?