Will the sentencing of Brazil's fallen hero be the start of a new era?

FROM 2003 to 2010, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was the most powerful man in Latin America. He was the highly popular president of Brazil. Now, he faces the prospect of a decade in prison.

Lula has been found guilty of corruption charges and sentenced to nine-and-a-half years behind bars. He is out on bail pending an appeal. He calls the case against him "a farce" that is politically motivated. He has been accused of accepting more than US$1.1 million in gifts from a construction company to make improvements to his beachfront apartment.

Lula's protégé and successor as president, Dilma Rousseff, was impeached last August on allegations of misrepresenting the national budget numb…