Brazil’s president says in UN speech that democracy can prevail over ‘would-be autocrats’

South American leftist Lula takes indirect swipes at Trump in speech and warns that global threat of anti-democratic forces' persists

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil's president, has launched an impassioned defence of his country's democracy, claiming the recent conviction of his far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, had shown the world how would-be autocrats" could be brought to heel.

Speaking at the opening of the United Nations general assembly in New York, Lula hailed Brazil's successful effort to repel an unprecedented attack" from Bolsonaro's extreme right movement. On 11 September, the former paratrooper was sentenced to 27 years in jail for trying to stage a military coup after he lost the 2022 election to Lula.