The WhatsApp ‘general’ behind Lula’s election comeback in Brazil

As Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva celebrated his election victory on Sunday in Sao Paulo, he placed his hand on the head of a man standing beside him and beaming in a green and yellow Brazilian football jersey.Lula thanked him for his role in the campaign, calling him “our general”.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Brazil’s real sinks after Lula’s re-election victorylist 2 of 4How a WhatsApp channel helped Lula win Brazil’s electionlist 3 of 4How did Lula beat Bolsonaro after losing Brazil’s first-round election?list 4 of 4What will Lula’s fourth term mean for Brazil?end of listAndre Janones, a 42-year-old Brazilian congressman who had spent the final weeks of the presidential run-off building a mass online movement to get Lula re-elected, then embraced the president.“He played an exponential role in this campaign in lifting the morale of our troops every day, morning, noon and night,” Lula told thousands of supporters who packed Paulista Avenue, the city’s main artery.Just three weeks earlier, the president seemed to be in trouble. He had finished behind his right-wing rival Flavio Bolsonaro after the first round of voting, his campaign struggling to keep up with the right’...