Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva sought to project national unity Thursday during Independence Day events that included a military parade in the capital, just eight months after his predecessor's supporters launched an uprising hoping to prompt the army to oust Lula from power.
Under the slogan “Democracy, Sovereignty and Unity,” the commemorations marked a stark contrast with those organized under former President Jair Bolsonaro, who used such events to boost his reelection campaign and to slam Brazil’s Supreme Court, threatening to plunge the country into a constitutional crisis.
