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ABSTRACT

Brazil's 2026 presidential race is taking shape on two fronts: incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and leading challenger Senator Flavio Bolsonaro have released campaign songs drawing on opposing musical traditions, while the United States has designated Brazil's two largest criminal organisations — Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho (CV) — as terrorist groups, a move whose timing critics link to the same electoral contest.

Al Jazeera English

Brazil presidential campaign songs reflect cultural divide as US terrorism designation adds electoral dimension

Aug 13, 2026, 2:33 AM

Brazil's 2026 presidential race is taking shape on two fronts: incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and leading challenger Senator Flavio Bolsonaro have released campaign songs drawing on opposing musical traditions, while the United States has designated Brazil's two largest criminal organisations — Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho (CV) — as terrorist groups, a move whose timing critics link to the same electoral contest.

Context

Lula's campaign song, 'Silva's Rap,' borrows from a 1995 baile funk hit by MC Bob Rum that originated in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. The track uses the refrain 'He was just another Silva' — Brazil's most common surname — to connect the 80-year-old, three-term president with working-class origins, accompanied by a video montage of highlights from his public life.

Flavio Bolsonaro, 45, the eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro and described by The Straits Times as only slightly trailing Lula in the polls, has released 'Come With Faith,' an AI-generated sertanejo country anthem. The lyrics reference 'faith' seven times and make repeated appeals to 'hope' and 'believe,' targeting a growing evangelical Christian electorate. A video features the candidate wearing a cowboy hat and blowing a traditional cattle-driver's horn.

Electoral marketing consultant Marcelo Vitorino told The Straits Times that Lula's use of rap and funk was aimed less at persuading new voters than at energising his progressive base, describing that space as 'the space of the marginalized — the outskirts, funk, and rap.' Campaign consultant Gilberto Musto said both songs were 'the right choices for the moment,' updating a long tradition of Brazilian campaign jingles.

Dr. Kjetil Klette Bohler, who studies music in Brazilian politics at the University of South-Eastern Norway, told The Straits Times that Brazilian campaigns are increasingly using musical genres as political signals, with sertanejo more closely associated with the conservative movement and samba, funk and Afro-Brazilian traditions more often embraced by the left.

MC Bob Rum, who wrote the original 1995 funk track now repurposed for Lula's campaign, said its use in a presidential contest marks a coming of age for a genre long stigmatised for its origins and lyrics, adding that such a choice 'could not have happened even 10 years ago.'

An August 11 CNT/MDA poll cited by Al Jazeera put Lula at 42.4 percent and Flavio Bolsonaro at 28.7 percent in the first round.

Separately, the United States has designated PCC and CV — described by Al Jazeera as among the most powerful criminal networks in Latin America — as terrorist organisations. Al Jazeera reports that the move is being presented by both the US and the Brazilian far right as a necessary response to the growing transnational reach of organised crime.

Al Jazeera argues that the timing of the designation is difficult to separate from Flavio Bolsonaro's lobbying of US officials, including the Trump administration, to take a harder line against the Lula government, and from a broader campaign by the Bolsonaro family to portray Lula as soft on organised crime. His brother Eduardo Bolsonaro, according to Al Jazeera, went further by lobbying for sanctions against Brazilian Supreme Court justices and tariffs on Brazil; Brazil's Supreme Court sentenced Eduardo to four years and two months in prison on June 16 for coercion related to that campaign, according to Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera further reports that former President Jair Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year-and-three-month sentence for his role in an alleged coup attempt following his 2022 election defeat.

According to Al Jazeera, the terrorism designation gives US authorities greater powers to freeze assets, impose sanctions, and prosecute individuals accused of supporting designated groups, and creates compliance obligations for companies and financial institutions operating in Brazil even without direct links to PCC or CV.

Al Jazeera contends that PCC and CV — the PCC existing since the early 1990s and CV being older still — were not newly discovered threats, and questions why Washington acted in 2026 rather than earlier, suggesting the answer lies in Brazil's domestic politics rather than any new threat assessment.

All Perspectives
Lula campaign / progressive supporters: MC Bob Rum, who wrote the original funk track, said Lula 'could have chosen a Mozart opera' but instead chose a funk track that 'demonstrates his closeness to the everyday — to the ordinary citizen from humble, marginal communities.' Marketing consultant Marcelo Vitorino characterised the genre choice as an effort to rally a dedicated following from the margins of society, Lula's established political territory.
Flavio Bolsonaro campaign / conservative movement: According to The Straits Times, the 'Come With Faith' anthem presents Flavio Bolsonaro as a champion of heartland conservative values, with lyrics appealing to an evangelical Christian electorate. Clips in the video emphasise rural and agricultural identity. Al Jazeera reports that Flavio has spent months portraying Lula as soft on organised crime and pressing US officials to designate PCC and CV as terrorist organisations, framing that designation as a necessary response to transnational crime.
Al Jazeera (opinion/analysis): Al Jazeera argues that the US terrorism designation of PCC and CV 'says far more about politics than security,' reflecting what it characterises as Washington's interventionist instincts in Latin America and the interests of Brazil's far right. It contends that violence alone does not make an organisation terrorist in the generally understood sense — which involves violence for political or ideological ends rather than criminal profit — and that broader application of the terrorism label risks obscuring the nature of the security threat while giving states greater scope to use such designations for political ends.
Academic researcher on Brazilian campaign music: Dr. Kjetil Klette Bohler of the University of South-Eastern Norway said Brazilian campaigns are choosing musical genres increasingly as political signals, with sertanejo associated with the conservative movement and Afro-Brazilian traditions such as samba and funk embraced by the left. He noted that campaign songs draw on a tradition of street vendors using music to attract customers and historically help reach voters in a country with low literacy rates.
Campaign marketing consultants: Gilberto Musto said the words 'faith,' 'hope,' and 'believe' in Bolsonaro's anthem 'captivate people,' and described both candidates' songs as 'the right choices for the moment,' updating a storied tradition of Brazilian campaign jingles. Marcelo Vitorino described Lula's funk choice as targeting the space of 'the outskirts, funk, and rap' to potentially rally a dedicated following.
Position not represented in the source reporting: US government / Trump administration (no direct response or stated rationale for the terrorism designation is included in either source).
Gaps & Unknowns
  • Neither the US government nor the Trump administration is directly quoted in either source explaining the rationale or timing of the PCC and CV terrorism designations.
  • The Lula government's official response to the US terrorism designations is not provided in either source.
  • Independent polling beyond the single August 11 CNT/MDA survey is not cited, leaving the broader polling picture unestablished.
  • The full text and complete lyrics of both campaign songs are not provided.
  • Whether either campaign has officially commented on the other's musical choices is not established.
  • The specific legal mechanisms under which the US designated PCC and CV are not detailed in either source.
  • The sources do not establish whether any financial institutions have yet been affected by compliance obligations stemming from the terrorism designations.
  • The claim that Nicolas Maduro was kidnapped by US forces from a secure residence in Caracas, made by Al Jazeera, is not corroborated by The Straits Times or elaborated upon with sourcing.
Sources & Further Reading
  1. The Straits Times — original — by The Straits Times
  2. Al Jazeera English — by Raphael Tsavkko Garcia

Read the original at The Straits Times

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