Brazil’s Lula downplays Ortega’s dictatorship in Nicaragua, compares him to Germany’s Merkel

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil’s ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers Party – PT) compared the permanence in power of Latin American Daniel Ortega, who is in his 5th term and has installed a dictatorship in Nicaragua, with that of Germany’s Prime Minister Angela Merkel, who has completed 16 years leading the European country.

“Why can Angela Merkel remain in power for 16 years and Daniel Ortega can’t? What is the logic?” Lula asked journalists about the situation in Nicaragua.

In early November, Ortega won elections considered illegitimate by the Organization of American States (OAS). The president, in power since 2007, had 7 of his opponents arrested before the population could vote, eliminating all candidates who could threaten his victory.

Soon after the election, PT’s Secretary of International Relations Romenio Pereira released a note in which he celebrated Ortega’s victory and described the election in the country “a great popular and democratic expression.”

The text also stated that the election was the reflection of the population’s support for a political project that has as its main goal the construction of a “socially fair and egalitarian country” and said that Ortega’s victory occurred “despite the many attempts to destabilize the government and the international blockade against Nicaragua and its current government.”

The next day, faced with the note’s negative repercussions, the party’s national chairwoman Gleise Hoffmann defended the PT from criticism, by saying, through a tweet, that the note signed by Pereira had not been submitted to the party leadership. By disavowing the secretary, the federal deputy also reinforced that the PT’s intention now is to debate Brazil, showing concern about the party’s stance.

On the fact that Ortega sent opponents to prison, Lula said he “can’t judge what happens in other countries” and referred to his own imprisonment. According to the ex-president, his conviction in Operation Lava Jato was intended to facilitate President Jair Bolsonaro’s path to the Planalto. “In Brazil, I spent 580 days in jail so that Bolsonaro would be elected. I don’t know what people [in Nicaragua] did to be arrested. I know I didn’t do anything,” he said.

Then, the leftist said he is not familiar with the details of the arrests mentioned and said: “If Daniel Ortega imprisoned the opposition so that they would not run in the election as they did in Brazil against me, he is totally wrong.” In the same speech, Lula further said that he is in favor of alternating power.

“Every politician that starts to think of him/herself as indispensable or irreplaceable starts to become a dictator.” He added: “That is why I am in favor of alternating power. I may be against it, but I cannot interfere in the decisions of a people. We have to uphold the self-determination of the people.”

CUBA

Lula also commented on the recent political protests in Cuba, whose dictatorial government is also downplayed by PT.

Regarding the fact that the Cuban government has banned opposition demonstrations and violently countered them, even calling for the military to occupy the streets – the population has been protesting against the energy crisis and the lack of food and medicine since mid-year – Lula said that repression by the police is “violent throughout the world.”