The Brazilian Workers’ Party’s (PT) seemed to be a shining example of how to seize power and govern in the interest of working people. Lula’s victory in 2002 and reelection in 2006 were often hailed as a triumph of pragmatic social-democratic governance in the developing world.

Though the Brazilian left had already split over the project and Lula’s legacy, the PT mandate remained largely unquestioned and had found unusual friends — in the editorial boards of international newspapers and the halls of foreign capitals.

The rise of 30 million people from poverty appeared to cement Lula’s legacy. When he left office in 2010, he said he had put the country on course to a future where “the great majority are middle class, with purchasing power and access to material goods, education and health.”