MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula da Silva back on the political stage next to President Dilma Rousseff

The two leaders were present at the swearing in ceremony of two new cabinet ministers

Former Brazilian president Lula da Silva currently undergoing treatment for larynx cancer, returned on Tuesday to the political stage after three months of absence, for the inauguration ceremony of two new ministers from the cabinet of President Dilma Rousseff

The Brazilian leader who still has a shaven head was cheered by the Rousseff cabinet during the swearing in of Aloizio Mercadante as Education minister and Marco Antonio Raupp in Science, Technology and Innovation.

“It’ a great honour that this precise moment is the first time that our dear president Lula da Silva is back” at the Planalto Palace, seat of the Executive, underlined President Rousseff who on January 2011 succeeded the popular leader.

The former president (66) is undergoing chemotherapy sessions to eliminate a tumour he was diagnosed last October. Oncologists are optimistic about his chances of recovery.

Since then Lula da Silva has limited his public appearances and this is the first time he was seen in an official ceremony next to President Rousseff.

“We must acknowledge publicly that the strategy to democratize access to education was an initiative of the gentleman”, said Rousseff in reference to Lula da Silva.

The two ministers are the first reshuffle of Rousseff’s cabinet following a first year that saw six cabinet ministers step down allegedly for involvement in corruption practices.

Mercadante left Science and Technology to take over Education and replace Fernando Haddad who was also a cabinet minister with Lula da Silva and left the ministry to run for mayor of Brazil’s financial and industrial hub, the city of Sao Paulo.

Precisely the presence of Lula da Silva at the cabinet ceremony clearly signals, according to the Brazilian press, that the former president will be fully involved in the October municipal elections as he had promised.