Lula takes over in Brazil, slams Bolsonaro's anti-democratic threats

FILE PHOTO: Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attends the presentation of the ministers nominated for his government at the transition government building in Brasilia, Brazil December 29, 2022. REUTERS/Adriano Machado/File Photo

BRASILIA (Reuters) -Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sworn in as Brazil's president on Sunday, delivering a searing indictment of far-right former leader Jair Bolsonaro and vowing a drastic change of course to rescue a nation plagued by hunger, poverty and racism.

In a speech to Congress after officially taking the reins of Latin America's biggest country, the leftist said democracy was the true winner of the October presidential vote, when he ousted Bolsonaro in the most fraught election for a generation.