With over 99% of today’s presidential vote in Brazil counted, Flavio Bolsonaro took the lead, gaining 47.1% of the vote to President Lula da Silva’s 45.1%. The ten other candidates, between them, received 7.8% of the vote. Abstentionism was high, at 21.7% of the voters.

Therefore, on Oct. 25, the choice before Brazilian voters will be between the two paradigms being fought out internationally.

One option is Bolsonaro, the rightwing candidate who on foreign policy has promised Brazil will join President Trump’s “Shield of the Americas” operation to seize the natural resources of the region for Wall Street, pull Brazil out of the BRICS, implement a Milei-modeled “chainsaw” austerity and privatization policy domestically, and go for a free trade agreement with the United States.