Brazil's Lula Da Silva Launches Candidacy, Says 'They Can Arrest My Flesh But Not My Ideas'
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Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio 'Lula' da Silva has launched his pre-candidacy for this year's presidential election during an event hosted at Expominas in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. Speaking to the crowd on Wednesday, he said that his “torturers,” in reference to judges, the corporate media and others who have pursued him on alleged corruption charges, can arrest “my flesh, but my ideas will carry on free. They will not detain our dreams.”
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Lula emphasized that he's unsure what will happen in the coming months. “What I do know is that I do not respect the (court's) decision ... For this reason, I'm a (presidential) candidate. I'll return to ensure that our people benefit from their rights and live better.”
Criticizing Globo, Brazil's largest media outlet, Lula said numerous hours of negative coverage had been dedicated to demonizing him. “What they don't understand is that the people know me,” he said adding "I doubt that their conscious is calm.”
Lula pointed out that the problem faced by the mainstream media is not him, but millions of others who believe in his ideas. “They can try to do away with me, tell the number of lies they tell headed by Rede Globo; they can try to demonize PT (Workers' Party). They are dealing with a different human being because I'm not me, I'm the incarnation of a piece of cell in each of you.
During a radio interview before his speech, Lula commented on the military intervention in the state of Rio de Janeiro. “I fear that the intervention in Rio de Janeiro is pyrotechnics, a maneuver of political interest... If the state is absent regarding public policies in impoverished areas, violence appears.
”He added: “Temer has found a way to become a presidential candidate and believes that public safety can be an important issue to secure a niche.”Lula has appealed his 12-year sentence for corruption on “technical grounds.” His lawyers say the written indictment contained 38 omissions, 16 contradictions and five areas that were unclear.
The faults raised should "result in the annulment of the whole process or acquittal of Lula," his lawyers said.
Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is greeted by supporters during a rally in Belo Horizonte, Brazil February 21, 2018. REUTERS/Washington Alves
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