Brazil: without evidence, Lula says he is “convinced” Bolsonaro engineered January 8
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) says he is “convinced” former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and allies were responsible for the acts of January 8, which culminated in the invasion and depredation of the headquarters of the Three Powers in Brasilia.
The statement was made in an interview published in the Spanish newspaper El País on Thursday (27) without presenting any evidence to support the allegation.
Lula said he had been expecting a coup attempt since the day he took office, on January 1, and that it might not have happened on that occasion because there were “a lot of people”.
On Wednesday (26), Bolsonaro gave a statement to the Federal Police and ruled out any relation to the acts and that not being reelected in 2022 is “page turned.”
“I do not doubt that he tried to pull off a coup. It was going to happen since the first day of my inauguration, but since it was a lot of people, I waited a week.”
“I saw everything on TV; they stormed the Planalto Palace, there was disregard for those who were watching, and they entered the National Congress, the STF, and the Palace.”
“Now there are people in jail. We are also looking for who financed, who paid for, for example, the buses they came in.”
“Now the Secretary of Security of Brasília is in jail.”
“We are convinced that Bolsonaro and his team organized everything,” he said.
Lula claimed that the distrust considers the lawsuits against the former president still in progress in the courts and the government’s performance in the Covid-19 pandemic.
He also commented on the booing and protests he was the target of opposition deputies during a speech at the Portuguese Parliament on Tuesday (25) and members of the Ukrainian community in the country.
For the president, there is a crisis involving the right-wing not only in Brazil, but “it also exists in Spain, Portugal, France, Germany.”
“Spain knows what authoritarianism is. In Portugal, only eight people were making noise that day,” he added.
Despite claiming that only eight people made “noise” that day, Lula’s speech was not applauded by a larger number of lawmakers, according to images shown on the broadcast from Parliament.
Outside the Assembly, a crowd of people joined members of the Chega party to protest against Lula’s presence in Portugal, with placards expressing phrases like “enough corruption” and “a thief’s place is in prison,” as well as Ukrainian flags.
The president also commented that he is not considering re-election, as his US counterpart Joe Biden has already announced this week.
“I cannot think about that now. It’s only been four months since I started my term,” he added.
ENVIRONMENTAL BARRIERS TO TRADE WITH THE EU
During his visit to Spain this Tuesday (25) and Wednesday (26), Lula said he hopes the European Union will unravel the pending issues that still hang over the agreement with Mercosur with Spanish President Pedro Sánchez’s presidency of the bloc in the second half of the year.
Sánchez confirmed that talks could move forward.
However, the European Parliament recently approved a norm prohibiting the sale of products from deforestation areas.
On the other hand, Brazilian Senator Zequinha Marinho (PL-PA) filed a bill that creates a kind of “reciprocity” to the determination imposed by the European countries.
Lula was questioned about the legislation and said the biggest current obstacle is France, which “doesn’t want to make concessions in agriculture”.
But he avoided polemicizing the decision, stating that he is committed to prohibiting deforestation and burning.
“No trees should be cut down in Brazil because it is unnecessary: Brazil is already the largest animal protein producer.”
“It is important to improve our agricultural production to feed our people and the people of other countries, but, above all, to take care of the environment, of the indigenous lands.”
“It is a moral, ethical, political, and environmental obligation”, he said in the interview.
The anti-deforestation law approved by the European Parliament still needs to be approved by the parliaments of the member states before it comes into effect.
Finally, Lula commented on the difficulty of finding a way out of the war in Ukraine and emphasized that he condemns Russia, which “has no right to invade Ukrainian territory.”
The opinion about the conflict in Eastern Europe has changed in recent weeks after the president stated, during his trip to China, that the two countries would have responsibility.
With information from Gazeta do Povo
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