the former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT), 76 years old, candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, played down corruption scandals in his government by saying that everything was investigated, but did not detail how he will prevent new cases from arising in a possible new term. The PT admitted, however, deviations at Petrobras.
In an interview with national newspaper, gives Rede Globothis Thursday (25.Aug.2022), Lula called the president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) of “court jester”acknowledged mistakes made by his successor, the former president Dilma Rousseff (PT), in the economy, praised his deputy, the former governor Geraldo Alckmin (PSB), and waved to the female electorate with the promise of renegotiating family debts.
Leader in polls of voting intentions, the PT tries to expand its electorate to try to win the election in the 1st round. the last survey PowerDatereleased on August 17, shows the PT with 44%.
Asked, right at the beginning of the interview, by presenters William Bonner and Renata Vasconcellos about how he would avoid new cases of corruption, such as Mensalão and Lava Jato, Lula stated that the question was the “1st chance” to talk about it after having been “butchered” for 5 years.
The PT then replied that any person who commits an illicit act should be investigated and listed measures adopted in his 2 governments to fight corruption.
Lula was arrested in April 2018 because of the Lava Jato operation. Even in jail he was registered by the PT as a candidate for president. The TSE (Superior Electoral Court), however, barred the candidacy based on the clean record law.
In the end, the PT candidate who ran for the presidency was the former minister Fernando Haddad. He was defeated by Jair Bolsonaro in the 2nd round.
Lula spent 580 days in jail, in Curitiba, until the Federal Supreme Court (STF) changed its understanding and determined that the execution of the sentence begins after the process becomes final. PT had been imprisoned after being convicted in the 2nd Instance.
The former president left jail on November 8, 2019. In April 2021, the Supreme Court’s plenary quashed the Lava Jato convictions against the PT member and made him eligible again. Months later, the STF declared Sergio Moro, the judge who had sentenced Lula, partial.
During the interview, Lula said that the mistake of the operation was to have exceeded “the limit of investigation” and having entered the political sphere.
Lula admitted that there were deviations at Petrobras in PT governments, but he blamed Lava Jato for the dismissal of, according to him, more than 4 million people and the loss of revenue of about R$ 58 billion.
“You can’t say there was no corruption if people confessed. What is more serious is that people confessed and, because of people confessing, they became rich. In other words, it was close to a plea bargain”, said.
Lula took advantage of the corruption issue to attack Bolsonaro. He criticized the way in which the current president dealt with signs of irregularities in his management, especially when he decreed 100-year secrecy in cases such as that of former Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello.
In June 2021, the Army denied access to the administrative process that resulted in the general not being punished after he participated in an act in favor of the president and decreed centennial secrecy on the case.
In July 2021, data from Carlos Bolsonaro and Eduardo Bolsonaro’s access badges to Palácio do Planalto were kept secret for 100 years. The secret was used to deny access to an information access request made by the magazine crusoe.
“I have already said 500 times that I could do corruption, for example, a 100-year decree. Do you know the secrecy decree that is in vogue now? I could, in order to find out nothing, decree 100 years of secrecy. Decree for Pazuello, decree for my children, decree for advisors, or I could not investigate”, said.
Lula also stated that Bolsonaro is “hostage of the National Congress” for having lost control over the Congressional Budget. “Bolsonaro doesn’t send anything. Bolsonaro is held hostage by the National Congress. Bolsonaro doesn’t even take care of the Budget. Lira takes care of the Budget”said.
He referred to the Speaker of the House, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), the politician who has the most power over the so-called rapporteur’s amendments – a part of federal resources whose destination is formally defined by the budget rapporteur and has been used for works on electoral bases of deputies.
“Bolsonaro looks like the court jester, he doesn’t coordinate the Budget”, said Lula.
The PT said he will be able to convince the deputies to give up the rapporteur’s amendments. Privately, Lula’s allies admit that this is very difficult. He also said he will strive throughout the campaign to help elect allied congressmen to have a broad base.
In addition, he indicated that he counts on the help of governors to be able to move forward on the rapporteur’s amendments. “State governors are hostage to these secret amendments too”he said.
Even having to respond to arid and uncomfortable issues in his campaign, Lula showed confidence and seemed to feel comfortable at Globo studios. She answered the questions firmly, although, at times, she only touched on the themes.
Dilma was wrong
In the interview with JN, Lula acknowledged Dilma’s mistakes in the economy and sought to break away from the governments of his successor. In speeches during the pre-campaign, Lula insisted on highlighting the gains of his administrations, but hiding the misconceptions of the coreligionist.
Dilma was impeached in 2016, when she was unpopular and the country was in recession. She was directly nominated by Lula to be a candidate in 2010.
“I think Dilma made a mistake on the gasoline issue, she knows I think that”declared the former president, referring to the artificial containment of prices.
He also cited as a negative point the exemption from the payroll granted by the management of his party colleague.
“Dilma is one of the people that I have the deepest respect for her competence and for the help she has given me”declared the presidential candidate.
He praised the PT’s 1st government and mentioned that unemployment was low at the time. “I think when she tried to change [a política econômica] she had a dynamic duo against her. the president of the Chamber [Eduardo Cunha] the Aetius [Neves] in the Senate”declared the former president.
He said, however, that what was done in Dilma’s governments will have no influence on her eventual new administration.
“Bonner, if one day someone comes in your place to make the Jornal Nacional, you will find that king dead, king put”, said Lula. “Whoever is outside will not rule”said the former president.
divided agribusiness
In an initially truncated speech, Lula stated that part of the agribusiness “It is fascist and rightist”. He then noted that“serious businessmen who work in agribusiness that have foreign trade, who export to Europe, to China, they do not want to deforest”.
The PT also stated that the MST (Landless Movement) is not “More the same as 30 years ago” and said that the group today is focused on producing. “I don’t know if you know, the MST today has several cooperatives. The MST is the largest producer of organic rice in Brazil”said.
Alckmin accepted
In several moments of the interview, Lula praised the ex-governor Geraldo Alckmin (PSB), vice president on the presidential ticket. Although they have been adversaries for decades, especially in 2006, when they competed for the presidency against each other, the PT member returned to the mantra that it is necessary to unite even those who think differently to defeat Bolsonaro.
“ANDI joined to give a demonstration to Brazilian society, that politicians don’t have to be hateful. Politics is the most extraordinary thing for you to establish coexistence between opposites”, said.
The union between the two was poorly received by the PT. Former president Dilma Rousseff, for example, told Lula that Alckmin would not be trusted.
The distrust, however, was eliminated over the months, according to members of the PT campaign. Lula himself has publicly said, more than once, that he trusts his running mate.
This Thursday, Lula said that Alckmin has already been accepted by the PT “body and soul”.
wave to women
Lula also promised that, if elected for another term, he will engage banks and the private sector to renegotiate family debts.
“We have almost 70% of Brazilian families in debt and the vast majority of them are women, 22% are in debt because they cannot pay the water bill, the electricity bill, the gas bill. We will negotiate this debt. You can be sure that we will negotiate with the private sector and the financial system”said.
The promise is a nod to the female electorate, one of the main focuses of the PT campaign. The women’s vote is disputed by Lula and by President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), who is seeking re-election and is the PT’s main opponent in this year’s election.
Lula has already been talking to businessmen and representatives of the financial sector since the pre-election campaign. The PT tries to get support from the national GDP to, in addition to the electoral issue, have room for negotiation in a possible new government.
The PT, however, made no mention of Christian voters, especially evangelicals. He avoided mentioning God and any other religious words during the interview. Bolsonaro has an advantage over the evangelical electorate, his main supporter.
As research showed PowerDate with data collected from August 14 to 16, Lula has 44% of voting intentions for the 1st round against 37% for Bolsonaro. Counting only evangelicals, however, Bolsonaro has 52% against 31% for the PT.
Lula arrived in Rio de Janeiro, where the Jornal Nacional interview takes place, on Wednesday (24.Aug.2022). Before, she was in São Paulo, where she lives. Are in the entourage:
He is also accompanied by advisors such as Ricardo Stuckert, photographer and responsible for the image of the former president.
Lula did not participate in public activities prior to the interview. She met, however, with the candidate she supports for the government of Rio de Janeiro, Marcelo Freixo (PSB).
Janja, in turn, participated in a campaign with the PT deputy Benedita da Silva. The PT candidate for the Senate also attended, André Ceciliano.
In Jornal Nacional, PT had the opportunity to speak to a broad audience, but was also asked about issues that he seeks to keep in the background during the campaign. The interview opened with questions about corruption.
Counting Lula, the program has already interviewed the 3 best-placed candidates in polls. President Jair Bolsonaro was questioned on Monday (22.Aug). Ciro Gomes (PDT), on Tuesday (23.Aug).
The last interview will be with Simone Tebet (MDB), on Friday (26.Aug.2022).
Read more about the interviews at JN:
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