A giant metal robot depicting Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva towered over Rio de Janeiro's famous Sambadrome avenue on Sunday evening at a carnival parade that drew criticism for its tribute to the incumbent president in an election year, AFP reports, writes UNN.
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The Academicos de Niteroi samba school kicked off three days of dazzling parades with a tribute to Lula, tracing his life from a boy who grew up in poverty in the arid northeast to a metalworker, union leader, and then president.
The opposition criticized the parade as a veiled election campaign ahead of the October elections, in which 80-year-old Lula is running for a fourth term.
Lula and his wife Rosângela "Janja" da Silva watched the parade from one of the many VIP boxes lining the avenue.
Among them were striking workers, dancers adorned with giant light bulbs symbolizing access to electricity, and those depicting the poor receiving aid, which was also an ode to a range of "left-wing" issues.
The crowd sitting along the 700-meter avenue sang along to the theme song chosen by Academicos de Niteroi, which included an incendiary chorus often used by the president's supporters: "Olé, olé, olé, olá; Lula, Lula!"
The parades of the city's 12 best samba schools – fierce competitions with massive, animated floats, loud drum sections, and scantily clad samba queens – are a hallmark of Rio's carnival.
Beyond the pomp and glitter, each school chooses an annual theme, often related to Afro-Brazilian heritage, social or political commentary, mythology, or environmental issues.
The parade – the first dedicated to an incumbent president – did not mention the elections but did not shy away from politics.
The parade's theme proclaims "no amnesty" – a left-wing chant against attempts to free former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro from the 27-year prison sentence he is serving for planning a failed coup.
And one of the floats depicted a giant Bozo clown in prison stripes behind bars, with a massive ankle bracelet, a clear reference to Bolsonaro, whom critics often called "Bozo."
Bolsonaro was transferred from house arrest to prison before the official start of his sentence after he tried to remove his ankle monitoring bracelet with a soldering iron.
Brazil's electoral court, the TSE, on Thursday unanimously rejected requests from two opposition parties to ban Academicos from holding the parade on Sunday.
The court said it could not block the parade before it took place, but warned that it could still conduct an investigation after the show.
On Friday, the president's office warned officials attending carnival events not to make "statements that could be characterized as election propaganda."