Bolsonaro was “stupid” and “mediocre” when he pardoned Silveira, says Lula

Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva speaks during an event in São Paulo

By Lisandra Paraguassu

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Tuesday that President Jair Bolsonaro was “stupid” and “mediocre” in granting the individual pardon – also called grace – to deputy Daniel Silveira (PTB- RJ).

“Bolsonaro was stupid when he made this decision he made, this grace he made. He thinks it’s really funny, not in the legal sense, but from the smiling point of view. He was mediocre,” Lula said.

The former president stressed, however, that Bolsonaro got what he wanted by spending several days among the main news in the country, and that is why he had not commented on the case before.

“This is a discussion that I didn’t even comment on, because everything he (Bolsonaro) wanted happened. He drowned out Carnival. He did it on Thursday and it was in the news on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. All he wants is for him to stay in the news,” he explained.

The comment was made in an interview with youtubers and left-wing bloggers and was the first time that Lula spoke about the case, unlike other pre-candidates, who attacked the pardon last Thursday, the day it was published.

Upon seeing Lula criticized for this, aides to the former president stated that the PT and the party’s president, Gleisi Hoffmann, had expressed themselves institutionally, but Lula’s silence so far has bothered him.

Subsequently, the former president stated that Bolsonaro had the right to give the pardon and the STF will judge if he was wrong, but that the president created a political fact.

“He has the right to pardon. The Supreme Court had sentenced the citizen to nine years in prison because he disrespected the institution, offended, cursed. I don’t know if it’s right either because I’m not a lawyer. But if he disrespected and made the pardon who will judge? The Supreme Court itself. And what happened? He turned it into a political fact,” he said.

EVANGELICALS

The former president was also asked about his relationship with evangelicals and the attacks that some pastors, linked to Bolsonaro, constantly make on him. According to Lula, one cannot confuse some pastors with evangelicals as a whole, nor treat this population as if it were less intelligent.

“They are smart, intelligent, and they take care of their family like they should,” he said. “Evangelicals have extraordinary strength. We don’t have to talk to the pastor, we don’t have to stay behind that farofeiro who talks, talks, talks in the name of God committing sin every day. We have to talk to the people, the evangelical man and woman.”

The PT has made contact with representatives of evangelical churches and even planned a program, to be carried out by a pastor linked to the party, to be transmitted to these communities, but the idea did not go ahead.

Electoral research by the Ipespe institute, which segmented the sample of respondents by religion, shows a large month-to-month variation in voting intentions in this group, but the majority of evangelicals interviewed show a preference for Bolsonaro. In the latest survey, released last week, 45% of them would vote for the current president, while Lula was preferred by 34%.

Lula wins by 43% to 30% among Catholics and 58% to 21% among those who declared other or no religion.

know more

+ New Montana: 3rd generation of Chevrolet pickup arrives in 2023

+ Omicron: Unexpected symptom of infection in children worries medical teams

+ Mercadão de SP vendors threaten customers with fruit scam

+ Video: Mother is attacked on social media for wearing tight clothes to take her son to school
+ Horoscope: check today’s forecast for your sign

+ What is known about fluorone?
+ Trick to squeeze lemons becomes a craze on social media
+ ‘Monster Ichthyosaur’ is discovered in Colombia

+ One twin became vegan, the other ate meat. Check the result
+ See which were the most stolen cars in SP in 2021
+ Expedition identifies giant squid responsible for ship sinking in 2011
+ US Agency warns: never wash raw chicken meat