Joaquim Barbosa was a supreme justice of the Brazilian supreme court, he was the first Afro-Brazilian justice who is 73. Barbosa has not yet announced that he is running for president but it is known that he is going to run. This article goes in depth describing him as a person and him as a justice. He is described as being a harsh person with not great personal skills, the article sites all of the arguments he got into during his term as justice. He is also seen as being anti cuption after the work he did while in the supreme court. Barbosa has done work on efforts similar to to the Brazilian version of affirmative action. Even though Barbosa is running for president he has pending corruption charges, with no trial date yet this could lead to a short political career.
New York Times
The polls have Barbosa in third which is impressive since he hasn’t even announced his candidacy yet. Barbosa was born into poverty and started as a janitor in the courtroom then was able to go to law school and eventually became a justice.He is quite popular due to his “rags to riches” story, because of this the article says that the lower classes trust that he will seek out their interests as president. Barbosa also is seen as an outsider to politics and that he will “be a fresh new face to politics”(Darlington) There are speculations that Barbosa may be able to attract the former Lula voters, it all depends on who Lula indorces in the race.
The style of the article was reflective of horse race reporting, it was worded in a way to focus on the competition occurring between the candidates. The article describes Barbosa somewhat like a hot head which is reflected on America’s perception of Brazil. The article also discusses all of the corruption charges going around which makes Brazil seem like it’s falling apart at the seems.
Barbosa masks at Carnival. Felipe Dana/Associated Press
This article relates to class because of our following of the presidential election. We have also spent a significant amount of time dissecting the idea of race in Brazil and Barbosa is a way to add to that image of race. Since he is the first Afro-brazilian in the supreme court he is a prominent figure and his possible run for presidency would make him even more impactful.