Lula: “With Bolsonaro, Brazil has become an international pariah”

Paris, October 7 (EFE). – Former Brazilian President Luiz Inazio “Lula” da Silva has confirmed that the possibility of running again is “very high” and considers it a priority to oust the current head of state, Jair Bolsonaro. From the authority he accuses of increasing poverty in the country and turning it into an “international pariah”.

“Historically, Brazilian diplomacy has always been respected. Even during the period of military dictatorship, Brazil’s relations with the rest of the world were modern and civilized. Bolsonaro threw it all in the trash,” Lula said in an interview published by the newspaper on Thursday. French Liberation.

The former president accuses the current head of state of having “nothing but the eyes of (Donald) Trump and antagonizing China, Russia, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile…” With him, Brazil has become an international pariah. He adds: “No one wants to receive him or to receive him.”

He accuses former President Bolsonaro of “slapping all the civilized norms established by democracy” and “sabotaging the missions of institutions created to protect the environment and Native Americans.”

“Not to mention the economic and social crisis, with 116 million Brazilians suffering from food insecurity and 33 million unemployed or condemned to underemployment,” he says.

He also believes that he will have to file a response before an international court over his management of the epidemic, which he called a “genocide” because it caused “many avoidable deaths.” Brazil has suffered 600,000 deaths from COVID-19.

On the verge of turning 76, though he is “with the strength of a 30 man”, Lula asserts that he is negotiating with the Labor Party (PT) to choose a third term in next year’s presidential election, because his “political leader is not showing up every day”.

Having regained his qualifying status after spending 580 days in prison, the man who won the 2002 and 2006 presidential elections was the front-runner in opinion polls.

Lula believes that “people are poorer now” than when he was in power and states that he raised the minimum wage by 74% and increased the income of the poor by 10%. “This allowed us to expand the consumer market and attract foreign investment (…) and my formula is simple: put the poor in the budget and the rich in the income tax,” he says.

On Amazon conservation, Lula says he opposes French President Emmanuel Macron regarding its international status and is committed to “inviting the developed world to invest in scientific research to benefit from the properties of Amazonian biodiversity in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries.” EFE

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