RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Wednesday, June 1, Brazil’s former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, visits the city of Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, to participate in an act in defense of national sovereignty.
According to media reports, the event is scheduled for 6 PM local time and will be attended by leaders of political organizations, trade union centers, and social movements.
Da Silva will be accompanied by Geraldo Alckmin, his running mate for the presidential elections next October, former president Dilma Rousseff and the governor candidates of the Workers’ Party (PT) in Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul, Roberto Requião and Edegar Pretto, respectively.
In speeches and interviews, Lula has defended the rescue of sovereignty as a fundamental issue for Brazil to return to economic growth and for the population’s life to improve.
The PT founder has stressed that a sovereign country controls its territory and wealth and uses it in favor of its people.
In recent declarations to a local radio station, he assured that “the greatest image of a country’s sovereignty is the quality of life of its population” and questioned how it is possible to talk about sovereignty with 19 million Brazilians going hungry.
Lula emphasized that it is enough to change the policy for the country to start growing again and for the life of the people to improve again.
He accused the government of Jair Bolsonaro of privatizing or sabotaging the main national companies (such as Petrobras or Eletrobras) and, with this, taking away the country’s capacity to use them for social benefit.
He assured that the dismantling of Petrobras caused Brazilians to pay the most expensive rates in history to purchase gasoline, diesel, and gas.
In addition, he mentioned that the president of Petrobras is subordinated to the political orientations of the Brazilian State and thus clarified that Bolsonaro is lying when he denies being responsible for the high price of fuels.
Lula da Silva was convicted of corruption in a scandal involving Petrobras.