RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – “We have proven throughout history that it is possible to face backwardness, poverty, and inequality, with sovereignty and in the course of social justice. But today the country is being torn apart by a government of traitors.”
“They are criminally handing over the companies, the public banks, the oil, the minerals and the assets that do not belong to them, but rather to the Brazilian people,” Lula said in his letter.
The leftist said that companies deemed national heritage are being sold to foreign groups. He cited Petrobras, which has sold a number of assets and subsidiaries to reduce its debt. In August, the oil company ceased to be the parent company of BR Distribuidora and already has plans to privatize Liquigás.
“Petrobras is being sold in pieces to its foreign competitors. They have already handed over two strategic gas pipelines, and now they want the refineries, to reduce it to a mere crude oil producer and then sell what’s left,” he said.
“They reduce the production of fuel here to import it in US dollars from the United States. And that’s why fuel and gas prices are soaring for the people”.
Lula criticized Rede Globo and said that the TV station portrays Petrobras as a problem in the news. “If Petrobras were a problem for Brazil, as Rede Globo says every day, why is there so much greed for our biggest company and for the pre-salt (offshore oil fields), which the traitors are also surrendering?” he wondered.
“The workers and the most impoverished are the ones suffering the most from this betrayal. Every piece of the country and the public companies they are selling, at any price, represent millions of jobs and opportunities stolen from Brazilians,” said the former president.
“What was built with the efforts of generations is in danger of disappearing or being privatized to the detriment of the country, as they did with Telebrás, Vale, CSN, Usiminas, Rede Ferroviária, Embraer. And always under the pretext of reducing the state presence, as if the state were a problem when, in fact, it is indispensable for the country and the people”, said Lula.
In the letter, Lula further said that this privatization “spree” will not last forever and that the Brazilians will find a way to retrieve what belongs to them.
“Those who are taking advantage of this handover and predatory privatization spree should be vigilant because it will not last forever. The Brazilian people must find the means to recover what belongs to them.”
“And they will know how to call in the crimes of those who are betraying, handing over and destroying the country,” he said.
The Amazon under threat
The former president is also critical of Bolsonaro’s stance on the exploitation of the Amazon rainforest. According to the letter, the Amazon is under threat because the government is encouraging deforestation.
“Even the Amazon is threatened by a government that does not know and does not want to defend it; that encourages deforestation, does not protect biodiversity or the population that depends on the living forest,” he wrote.
According to Lula, the exploitation of lands in the Amazon by agribusiness and other activities does not benefit Brazilians.
“The market will not protect one of the largest territories in the world, the subsoil or the continental shelf; the Amazon, the scrubland (Cerrado), the swampland (Pantanal).”
“It will not offer universal access to education, health, social welfare, public safety, culture. The market will not build a country for everyone,” he said.
Criticism of foreign policy
The former president criticized Bolsonaro government’s foreign policy and mentioned the appointment of federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PSL-SP), the president’s son, as Brazil’s ambassador to the United States.
“Bolsonaro handed over our foreign policy to the United States. He gave them, at no cost, the Alcântara Base, a privileged position in which we could develop a Brazilian aerospace project.”
“He downgraded diplomacy to a family affair and to that of advisors who claim that the land is flat,” he said.
Lula further criticized Bolsonaro government’s closeness to that of US President Donald Trump.
“[Bolsonaro] He traded our achievements in the WTO [World Trade Organization] for the delusion of the OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development], the club of the wealthy who despise him.”
“He announced an agreement with the European Union, without weighing advantages and damages, and now he is playing war with the Europeans to play Trump’s game,” he said.