PT

The Brazilian Workers' Party (in Portuguese: Partido dos Trabalhadores, PT, pronounced /peˈte/) is the most influential political party in Brazil. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and , both being members of the PT, served as president. Lula served during 2003-2011, and began another term in 2023; Dilma served during 2011-2016 
The PT represents one of the largest left-wing movements in Latin America. Although officialy a party of democratic socialists,Estatuto do PT. Article I of the party's statute reads: O Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) é uma associação [...] com o objetivo de construir o socialismo democrático, meaning "The Workers' Party (PT) is an association [...] with the goal of building democratic socialism". it has openly supportedArchive from PT's official website The headline reads: "Venezuela: once again an example of democracy and civic participation"From PT's official website A tribute to Fidel Castro by the PT's Secretary of Foreign Affairs. (and financially aided)Cuba-Brazil relations authoritarian regimes such as Cuba and Venezuela.
Its supporters claim that the party's social assistance programs saved millions of starving Brazilians (which is highly debatable, even among the Brazilian left)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luiz_In%C3%A1cio_Lula_da_Silva#Social_projects , while its opponents emphasize on the party's corruption scandals since Lula first came to power.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workers%27_Party_(Brazil)#Controversies
==History==
Founded in 1980, after the end of suppression of political parties under the ruling anti-communist military regime, the PT gathered followers among trade unionists, left-wing intellectuals, artists and even religious groups.Samuels, David. "From Socialism to Social Democracy: Party Organization and The Transformation of the Workers’ Party in Brazil". Comparative Political Studies. p. 3. Its head figure was , or simply Lula, the leader of an ironmasters' union. He ran for president in 1989, 1994 and 1998, becoming the second most voted in each of those elections, but he would only win in his fourth attempt in 2002. Meanwhile, internal branches of PT with diverging ideology split and formed new parties.
Despite its involvement in several corruption scandals since Lula first came to power, the PT won all presidential elections from 2002 to 2014: Lula was re-elected in 2006 and one of his ministers, , was elected president in 2010 and re-elected in 2014, by a very narrow margin. An economical crisis and a large corruption scandal fueled protests against Dilma, who was then impeached in 2016Jonathan Watts, "Brazil's Dilma Rouseff impeached by senate in crushing defeat", 1 September 2016 The Guardian. In 2018, Lula was arrested for his involvement in some of the aforementioned corruption scandals.Manuela Andreoni, Ernesto Londoño and Shasta Darlington, "Ex-president 'Lula' of Brazil surrenders to 12-year jail term", 7 April 2014, The New York Times. The next year, however, he was released from prison.
Support for the PT decreased severely afterwards, to the point that in the 2018 presidential elections, a majority of Brazilians decided to go the other extreme and elected a far-right racist, sexist and homophobic nutjob as their next president. Apparently, Brazilians have skewed priorities.Though to be fair, if the 2016 U.S. presidential election has taught us anything, this isn't too different from how American voters prioritize the economy over any other issue.
In 2021, a justice of the Brazilian Supreme Court dropped all charges against Lula. He wasn't exactly acquitted, his trial being postponed, but this returned him his political rights.https://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2021/04/15/maioria-do-stf-rejeita-recurso-que-busca-manter-condenacoes-de-lula-julgamento-continua-dia-22.ghtml
In 2022, Lula ran for president again and defeated Bolsonaro by a very narrow margin. Lula became president again on 1 January 2023.
==Scandals==
Here is a summary of some major scandals the PT was involved in.
===Bingo scandal (2004)===
This scandal consisted of PT Chief of Staff member Waldomiro Diniz bribing and extorting businessmen to finance the party's next campaign. The name comes from the main document proving his involvement: a leaked recording of Diniz extorting Carlinhos Cachoeira, an owner of bingo houses.
===Mensalão (2005)===
Mensalão, meaning "big monthly payment", referred to the bribe of 30,000 reais (around US$12,000 at the time) paid for each of a number of congressmen to vote for legislation favoring the PT. 21 November 2012. Retrieved on 10 March 2013 The scheme was whistleblowed by , who did it in retaliation for his exposure in a previous scandal related to postal services. One of the involved even hid dollar bucks in his underpants! Many key advisers to Lula resigned and the accomplices were forced to either resign or accept expulsion from congress.
Upon investigation, Chief of Staff (also a PT member) confessed that he was the leader of the scheme. Many believe he did so to prevent investigation from going further and connecting Lula to the scheme, which would probably bring down his government. Nevertheless, most Brazilians seemed to have forgotten about the scandal as Lula was re-elected the following year.
===Petrobras scandal (2014)=== 
This was by far the biggest and most harmful scandal, not only in Brazil, but in all of Latin America.The biggest corruption scandal in Latin America’s history by Vox. YouTube. In 2014, banker was investigated after accusations of using a gas station for money laundering. When he was offered a plea deal in exchange for more information, he revealed a huge national scheme between Brazil's state-owned oil company and politicians from the PT and other parties.
Petrobras would hire one of competing engineering companies to build an important oil refinery in Rio de Janeiro, but the companies instead formed a cartel to fix prices and take turns for different stages of the construction. This allowed , the ring leader of the cartel, to profit much more than expected. Odebrecht money laundered its earnings via gas stations and bribed politicians and Petrobras top executives. The politicians enjoyed the bribe since it was useful for financing their campaigns.
Since Petrobras had many offices not only in Brazil but in several countries across Latin America, the scandal caused severe unemployment. On the other hand, it prompted the creation of , a massive corruption investigation system that kept arresting several corrupt politicians and businessmen until its termination in 2021.
==Notes==
==References==
 
Category:Political parties
Category:Brazil
Category:Government incompetence