Marina Silva, a Black woman, may be looking to make a change in Brazilian politics and the environment.

Marina Silva, a Black woman, may be looking to make a change in Brazilian politics and the environment.
 
The New York Times reports that Marina is running for president after having served as the environmental minister under Brazil’s current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
 
Speculation that she could enter the running came after she announced that she was leaving the Worker’s Party for the Green Party. She made the switch amid concerns that the standing administration would continue to destroy natural resources in the country’s rainforest.
 
The campaign would have running against former colleague Dilma Rousseff. Experts claim that Marina and Dilma have opposed each other since 2003 when they began fighting over Brazil’s economic policy. A big problem for Marina were some energy projects that she questioned for environmental reasons.
 
“With the opportunity to try to construct this new future for Brazil and for the planet, I prefer to put my hopes in this movement,” she said while explaining her choice to change parties.

No matter which woman wins, though, this will be a momentous election for Brazil as it has never elected a woman president, and it’s never had a Black either.

-- Sonya Eskridge

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