Written by Anthony Bodel and Lisandra Paraguaso

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Left-wing allies and confidants say Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s 580 days behind bars has given him a renewed sense of social justice, convincing him to prioritize ending poverty over increasing profits.

Lula takes office Sunday for an unprecedented third term, capping a dramatic turnaround for one of the world’s most enduring political leaders, who first ran for president in 1989.

Jailed for corruption in 2018 – the year former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro was elected – Lula’s convictions were overturned in 2019, allowing him to oust Bolsonaro in October’s elections.

As he seeks to unite a nation riven by economic woes, a chronic pandemic and Bolsonaro’s far-right populism, allies and confidants told Reuters, Lula is looking to his prison days for inspiration.

He learned from three failed presidential attempts to moderate his leftist ideals and make peace with Brazil’s powerful private sector during his 2003-2010 presidency. But Lula 3.0 plans to double down on efforts to combat poverty, end hunger and attack racism, allies said, while also rewarding loyal Labor prison visitors who hold key ministerial posts.

“The imprisonment reinforced the feeling that he had a duty above all to the poor in Brazil,” said Tarso Genro, former governor of the Workers’ Party of Rio Grande do Sul and a confidant of Lula’s. “He went to jail strong and came out stronger.”

His friends and allies said Lula, an ideologue who emerged from prison in 2019, should not be a cause for concern. He remains, they added, the same pragmatist who honed his powers of persuasion as a union leader in the São Paulo auto plants in the 1970s.

Lula’s aides have prompted comparisons to former South African leader Nelson Mandela, who spent more than a quarter of a century behind bars as an opponent of the country’s apartheid.

But many in Faria Lima, the so-called “Brazilian Wall Street,” who fondly remember the business-friendly Lula of the early 2000s holding their breath, worry that increased social spending and a loyal government will damage Brazil’s fiscal credibility and usher in a new era of Graft-stained state.

“The initial reaction to Lula 3.0 on Faria Lima is not favorable,” said economist Andre Perfetto, referring to the market downturn after the announcement of Lula’s spending proposal. “Many investors bet on Bolsonaro winning and they almost got it right, so naturally they are not happy.”

Recent cabinet appointments – including Labor leader Fernando Haddad as finance minister – have also rattled some investors.

Lula also recently appointed senior PT member and economist Aloizio Mercadante as head of the BNDES National Development Bank, which during previous Labor governments lent billions of reais for projects consumed by allegations of waste and graft, although bank officials said they were transparent.

Lula’s spokesman Jose Crispignano said the president supports fiscal responsibility and believes that boosting the economy is the best way to fight poverty.

“He does not see any contradiction between caring for the poor and promoting growth. On the contrary, he believes that caring for the poor and giving them the opportunity to work and consume is what generates sustainable growth,” he told Reuters.

Reading behind bars

Lula’s new social consciousness was ignited by reading books about race, slavery, and hunger behind bars, as well as biographies of Fidel Castro and Nelson Mandela, according to his website. He also read “Lulismo in Crisis,” a critical review of his movement and its mistakes by his former press secretary, André Singer.

His relationship was cemented with Rosângela da Silva, or Ganja, a 20-year-old Labor activist whom he married upon his release and who appears to be a major political player. Lola was widowed when his first wife, Marisa, died the year before he went to prison.

Ganja — who helped organize Lula’s election testimony and inauguration on Sunday, as well as advising on cabinet options — was among hundreds of true Labor Party believers camped out outside his prison in the southern city of Curitiba.

“Good morning, Chief Lula,” his congregation would chant as the day began, followed by “Good night, Chief Lula,” as he went to bed.

From his 15-square-meter cell on the third floor of the Federal Police headquarters in Curitiba, Lula set about reorganizing the PT and running its legal defence. There were plans for the failed presidential campaign of Haddad, a regular visitor who lost to Bolsonaro in 2018.

When he left prison, Lula was determined to make things right with his imprisonment and said he wanted to be re-elected to clear his name in the People’s Court. He described his imprisonment as a political witch hunt, trumped up with the right to prevent him from running in 2018.

Another close aide, Senator PT Humberto Costa, said Lula had matured politically in prison.

“What prompted him to run again was the need to make his mark, not only politically but historically, by creating lasting change in Brazil,” Costa said.