Lula “outraged” by latest incidents in Brazil
Lula praised the Workers' Party (PT), saying he is “proud to have founded Latin America's most important leftist party.”
Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva opened his press statement to rebut the allegations made by federal prosecutors against him and his wife, Marisa Leticia, by declaring that those were the words of “a citizen outraged by the things that happened and are happening in this country. I believe that, in this country, few people have a life more public and more scrutinized than mine.”
Lula praised the Workers' Party (PT), saying he is “proud to have founded Latin America's most important leftist party.” He further pointed out that, “a mere 20 years after the party was created, we won the [presidential] elections in this country. It wasn't to be expected.”
Mentioning Dilma Rousseff's impeachment, he noted that the same thing had been attempted in 2005. “They thought I was defeated. I didn't bleed, and in 2006 I was reelected in the biggest electoral scandal seen until then.” Against Rousseff, Lula said “they managed to mount an easy, peaceful coup, with no military out on the streets,” he added.
Kubitschek, Vargas, and Goulart
Lula compared himself with former Presidents Juscelino Kubitschek, who suffered an attempted coup; Getúlio Vargas, who committed suicide in 1954; and João Goulart, who went into exile in Uruguay in 1964.
“Juscelino was targeted by more inquiries than I have been. I don't have Getúlio's calling to shoot myself, or Jango's to leave Brazil.” And he added, challengingly, “If they want to push me offstage, they'll have to fight me on the streets.”
If he had failed in his administration, Lula argues, his opponents would have been pleased, “and the PT would not be subject to so much hatred. What sparked so much anger was the success of my government, the biggest policy for social inclusion in this country,” he said.
Tears
In two moments of his speech, Lula was moved to tears: when he said he earned the right to "walk tall," and when talked about his poor childhood, when he felt hunger. "Only God can stop me from fighting for what I believe in. I have a reason and motivation, when you have it, you have no time to feel tired."
The former president reminded his opponents that "none of them is greater than the law."
Outside the hotel, dozens of people gathered in an act to express their support for the former president.
Charges
The former president was indicted for the first time under Operation Car Wash. The charges also target his wife, Marisa Letícia da Silva, and six other people: Paulo Okamotto, head of the Lula Institute; Léo Pinheiro, former CEO at construction company OAS; and four other people linked to the same firm. Lula was accused of money laundering, passive corruption, and misrepresentation.
Prosecutors claim that the former president received illicit advantages in connection with the renovation of a triplex apartment in the beach city of Guarujá, São Paulo, carried out by OAS. According to the officials, the refurbishment was offered as compensation for Lula's actions in a corruption scheme at Petrobras.
In a note, the PT likened the allegations against the onetime president to summary trial, and added that the goal of prosecutors is to remove Lula from the presidential race in 2018. “We urge all democrats to resist.”
Translated by Fabrício Ferreira / Amarílis Anchieta
*Updated at 6.34pm
Fonte: Lula “outraged” by latest incidents in Brazil
