Brazil's Silva Faces Tough Challenges

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attends a meeting at the Presidential Palace, in Brasilia, Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2007. Lula was sworn in for his second term in office Monday. In the background is Cabinet Chief Dilma Roussefe. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres) (Eraldo Peres - AP)

Weisbrot said Brazil is unlikely to further close that gap without boosting growth.

"It is very difficult, if not politically impossible, to do much about inequality or other social problems that Lula talks about without much more rapid economic growth," Weisbrot said.

Shifter said Silva's second term likely will also be dominated by security concerns, after gang attacks in Rio de Janeiro left 19 people dead last week. In May, similar violence in Sao Paulo resulted in around 200 deaths.

"The spreading lawlessness in major cities like Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo is likely to absorb more of his attention and political capital in the coming administration," Shifter said. "The deteriorating security situation in Brazilian cities and political corruption could prove to be the Achilles heels of Lula's second term."

On Monday, Silva pledged to send in federal troops to help fight the violence in Rio de Janeiro.

He also promised to make education a priority but provided few details.

Riordan Roett, director of Western Hemisphere Studies at Johns Hopkins University, said education is one of Brazil's biggest long-term issues "in terms of the country's competitiveness.

"But it's going to be hard to reverse trends firmly in place," he said. "Because public education is so bad, the middle and upper class have turned to private education. They are not stockholders in supporting public education."

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Associated Press Writer Alan Clendenning in Sao Paulo contributed to this report.