Prison shaped Lula, making him more attuned to anti-racist and gender equality agendas.

Lisandra Paraguassu and Anthony Boadle, Reuters - "They tried to bury me alive, and here I am." The phrase, one of the few improvised, was uttered by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in his speech a few hours after confirming his third electoral victory and summarized the trajectory of a politician who, after 580 days in prison, returns to the Presidency to defend his legacy 12 years after leaving power with 87% approval.

Lula, who begins an unprecedented third term since the redemocratization, takes over a different Brazil and is, in a way, different as well. Both were impacted by the experience of Lula's imprisonment for corruption, a conviction that would be overturned years later by the courts, but which would remain a symbol of the political and social division that gave him a narrow victory over the far-right Jair Bolsonaro.

The Workers' Party candidate learned from three failed presidential campaigns in the 90s to soften his rhetoric in order to appease financial agents and Brazil's powerful private sector. Now, he promises to unite the country, but speaks even more vehemently against hunger and poverty, has brought an unprecedented emphasis to the anti-racist, gender, and environmental agenda, and constantly challenges what he calls "the so-called market."

"The initial reaction to Lula 3.0 on Faria Lima is not favorable. It's not surprising that the stock market has fallen, interest rates are high, and the real is weakened," commented economist André Perfeito.

Perfeito emphasizes, however, that he does not expect any economic recklessness from the new government, noting that the Ministry of Finance was given to Fernando Haddad, considered Lula's main bet for his succession.

"I don't think Lula is a resentful man who is going to make a leftward adjustment now," continues the economist, who sees the "if you want to complain, complain" type of remarks directed at Faria Lima as a strategy to please his most loyal left-wing base.

Allies of the Workers' Party leader told Reuters that much of Lula's new image was reinforced during his months in prison, which also made him more patient, but also more centralized, and consolidated a group of loyal supporters around him.

Lula brings with him to power a government that was, in part, forged during his time in Curitiba. Alongside him are figures who have never left his side, such as the president of the PT (Workers' Party), Gleisi Hoffmann, Haddad, and his secretary at the Lula Institute and future chief of staff, Marco Aurélio Santana Ribeiro, Marcola – who moved to Paraná during his time in prison.

"The process he went through broadened his vision: today he has a wider universe of people to talk to, to make decisions with, but at the same time, it greatly reinforced his own role. Today he centralizes decisions more on himself, a result of this experience," analyzes Senator Humberto Costa, one of the president-elect's oldest allies.

During the campaign, Reuters heard complaints from aides that the centralization of power in Lula's hands had delayed even bureaucratic decisions, sometimes leading to internal disputes—a style that will now be put to the test in the Presidential Palace.

In this configuration inherited from Curitiba, Rosângela Silva, known as Janja, stands out. She is now the first lady who began dating Lula a few months before his imprisonment and became an influential figure in Lula's hard-core supporters.

Many eyes will be focused on mapping Janja's role in the government, after she organized the inauguration party and showed interest in communication issues.

Sociologist Janja is also credited with awakening in the president-elect a greater awareness of women's rights. Alongside his new relationship with Janja, the readings in Curitiba and the conversations during that period helped reinforce an agenda not only on gender, but also on racism and the climate crisis, which, while part of the traditional left-wing playbook, has gained increasing relevance and social impact since the Workers' Party member left the Planalto Palace.

"(In prison, Lula) understood that different political actors had appeared on the scene. This provided him with a new type of reflection, organizing his political environment and bringing this racial, social, and political diversity to the forefront of his next government," said Lula's former minister, Tarso Genro.

Under pressure to forge a majority in Congress, the president designed a cabinet with 37 ministries, most of which will be headed by mature men from the party establishment.

Women secured 11 of these positions, a record, although demands such as Brazil having a female foreign minister for the first time were not met.

Nominated for Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira chose Maria Laura da Rocha as Secretary-General of Itamaraty, something also unprecedented, but the campaign in favor of women in key positions continues, yet another sign that the general demand for greater female representation in administration will be a permanent pressure.

"I am convinced that President Lula is sensitive (to the issue). Minister Mauro Vieira can offer the president nominations of women for some of Brazil's main embassies around the world, where women have visibility, such as Buenos Aires, Washington, and Berlin," says Ambassador Irene Vida Gala, one of the prominent voices in this debate.

Lula's sensitivity echoes the readings he focused on during his 580 days in prison.

When he was arrested on April 7, 2018, friends advised him to keep a diary. The president-elect, however, felt he wouldn't have anything to write down during the hours he spent, for the most part, alone.

The visits were concentrated on two days of the week: on Mondays, leaders of all religions, in a pilgrimage organized mainly by former minister Gilberto Carvalho. On Thursdays, family, his then-girlfriend Janja, and political leaders from Brazil and the world. On the other days, only the lawyers.

Lula, then, read. And, friends say, he debated with himself. He wrote letters and notes sometimes, and placed orders. There were more than 40 books that, from time to time, arrived as recommendations on his social media through his advisors.

In his first days in Curitiba, one of the first books the president-elect received was "Um defeito de cor" (A Flaw of Color), by Ana Maria Gonçalves. The story of a Black woman enslaved at the age of 8 permeates the history of slavery in Brazil, and its nearly one thousand pages accompanied Lula for several weeks. They were part of the process that further awakened Lula to the issue of racism.

Among his favorite books are "Slavery" by Laurentino Gomes, "The Elite of Backwardness" by Jessé Souza; "Hunger" by Martín Caparrós. He also enjoys biographies, such as those of Carlos Marighella, Fidel Castro, and Nelson Mandela, and books on politics, like "Lulism in Crisis" by his former spokesperson André Singer, which discusses precisely what happened to the PT (Workers' Party) and politics in the country after the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff.

"I want to apologize to you for my emotion, because those who have gone through what I have gone through in recent years and are here now are certain that God exists and that the Brazilian people are greater than anyone who attempts to impose arbitrariness in this country," said Lula, who cried when he was certified by the Electoral Court in December.

Without a guaranteed honeymoon period in public opinion --a Datafolha poll this Sunday shows that 51% expect a better administration than the previous one--, Lula, who has as a benchmark and pressure his own previous success under more unfavorable global economic conditions, does not hide an even greater ambition after his imprisonment, says Humberto Costa.

"He wants to leave a definitive mark, a legacy, and at the same time make a structural change in Brazil that can have a lasting effect," said Costa.