Ex-president of Brazil surrenders to serve prison sentence in corruption scandal

SÃO PAULO, Brazil - After vowing for months that a conviction on corruption charges would not stand in the way of his bid for a third term as Brazil’s leader, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva surrendered to the police on Saturday to begin serving a 12-year sentence.

His imprisonment was an ignominious turn in the remarkable political career of da Silva, who faced down Brazil’s military dictators as a union leader and helped build a transformational leftist party that governed Brazil for more than 13 years.

His detention was also a momentous development in the coming election in Brazil, upending the race to replace President Michel Temer in October.

Having carved out an ample lead in the polls, da Silva promised his followers that the Workers’ Party could once again wrest control of Brazil’s destiny, and prioritize policies to narrow the country’s steep inequality.

Succeeding would have been a stunning comeback after the 2016 impeachment of da Silva’s handpicked successor, Dilma Rousseff. She was replaced by Temer, a deeply unpopular center-right politician who also stands accused of corruption.

Before surrendering to federal police authorities, da Silva, 72, accused prosecutors and judges of knowingly pursuing a baseless case against him.

“I do not forgive them for creating the impression that I am a thief,” da Silva told a throng of supporters gathered outside a metalworkers union headquarters outside of São Paulo.

Da Silva appeared to acknowledge that his political career is over - at least for now.

“You will have to transform yourselves,” he told supporters. “They must know that the death of a combatant doesn’t end a revolution.”

Months from Election Day, Brazil’s political left now finds itself without an obvious standard-bearer.

Da Silva did not anoint a successor to take his place on the ballot, suggesting that Workers’ Party leaders have yet to decide who stands the best chance of filling the void. But he did single out for compliments two leftist presidential hopefuls from other parties who were with him on stage, Manuela d'Ávila and Guilherme Boulos.

Other candidates who remain in the race include Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right lawmaker who has campaigned on a promise of resorting to harsh tactics to restore security in areas plagued by violence; and a former environmental minister, Marina Silva, who supports the judiciary’s crackdown on corruption and an overhaul of the political system.