Ciro can neither save nor destroy Lula.

By Alex Solnik, for the Journalists for Democracy

Since last year I've been saying that Lula and Ciro together are unbeatable. If they had made some kind of agreement, that captain wouldn't be in power. It didn't work out. They went through the campaign fighting amongst themselves. What remains are grudges, open wounds, and scars.

The tense atmosphere is repeating itself now. Instead of uniting against the enemy, which is Bolsonaro's far-right, the two biggest leaders of the left continue fighting each other.

Someone might say: it's not Lula who is fighting with Ciro, it's Ciro who is fighting with Lula.

But the fact is that Lula and the PT (Workers' Party) are intertwined – Lula is the PT and the PT is Lula – and these squabbles between Ciro and PT members can be interpreted as fights with Lula, because these PT members are confused with Lula, they speak in his name.

The fact is that this climate of animosity between Ciro and Lula, or Ciro and the PT, does nothing to help Brazilians who are under threat from the Bolsonaro government in every way and need strong leaders to protect them. Worse: it leaves Bolsonaro supporters feeling at ease. As long as the opposition doesn't unite, the government has nothing to fear. And the unity of the opposition depends on the unity between Ciro and Lula, between Ciro and the PT.

Without a strong leader, the opposition to Bolsonaro will be leaderless, embroiled in an endless and undesirable dispute.

The Workers' Party (PT) and its supporters insist that Lula is still the leader. But he's in prison. That's what Ciro – I think – meant in yesterday's argument. Nobody can lead from prison. Nobody can lead by speaking through intermediaries and not personally. Nobody can lead without their face being seen.

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Many interpret Ciro's actions as those of an opportunist who wants to destroy Lula in order to take his place and lead the left.

I don't think he's into that; that would be incredibly stupid, and he's not stupid.

Ciro can neither save nor destroy Lula. Only the Supreme Court can get Lula out of jail. No one else. Speaking well or ill of Lula will not interfere with the Supreme Court's decision. The Supreme Court can also destroy Lula by letting him languish in the Federal Police's custody.

The Workers' Party (PT) knows that Lula is the greatest popular leader since Getúlio Vargas. And it doesn't want to give up being led by him. It fears that if it doesn't continue along this path, it will be labeled as having abandoned him. But if it continues like this, the damage could be greater.

Lula is a great leader who is imprisoned and will only lead again when he is free.

Until that happens, the best thing for him and Cyrus would be for some angel to appear and make them shake hands.

It's worth repeating: together, Ciro and Lula will be unbeatable in the opposition to Bolsonaro; separated, both are likely to lose.

Not only them, but all Brazilians who don't want the return of the dictatorship.

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