Elle

Lula's reelection in Brazil is not just a domestic victory. It is the single biggest geopolitical defeat the US empire has suffered in Latin America in decades. Here is what was actually at stake: The Resources: Brazil holds the world's second-largest rare earth reserves — nearly a quarter of the global supply. The US military-industrial complex is desperate for these minerals to break its dependence on China. The Bolsonaro dynasty was ready to hand them over. A US government-linked company already bought Brazil's only active rare earth mine from Bolsonaro-aligned oligarchs for $2.8 billion. They wanted Petrobras privatized next. Lula said no. These are our minerals. We will build our own economy. Palestine: Lula lost a finger in a factory at 17. He is the working class. The Bolsonaros are the landlords, the oligarchs, and the cheerleaders of settler colonialism. They waved Israeli flags at their rallies. They held Zoom calls with Netanyahu on stage. They posed with a map of Israel colonizing ALL of historic Palestine — Gaza, the West Bank, the Golan Heights. Lula stands with Palestine and calls the genocide what it is. The Multipolar World: Lula co-founded BRICS. He is building parallel financial systems to bypass the weaponized US dollar. He called for a new global reserve currency. He wants Latin America to trade in its own currency, free from Washington's sanctions. The empire cannot tolerate a continent that refuses to pay rent in dollars. So how did Washington respond to a sovereign democratic choice? Trump slapped Brazil with 50% tariffs — even though the US has a trade SURPLUS with Brazil. The tariffs were never economic. They were punishment. Meta censored Lula's accounts and boosted Bolsonaro. The Bolsonaro campaign hired a US AI company to spread disinformation. Eduardo Bolsonaro literally called on Trump to send the US military to attack the Brazilian government. They threw everything at him. Tariffs. Censorship. Disinformation. Coup attempts. And they still lost. The American empire tried to enforce the Monroe Doctrine with algorithms, tariffs, and a puppet dynasty. But the Brazilian working class just voted to keep their minerals, defend Palestine, and build a world where Washington doesn't get to decide who eats. You can tariff the economy. You can censor the candidate. You can beg for a military coup. But you cannot colonize a people who have already decided they belong to themselves.