Lula's stance proves that he has acknowledged his mistake.

The slip-up, the unfortunate statement by former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – which he later retracted and apologized to the Brazilian people for having expressed himself poorly – has regrettably fueled anti-PT sentiment and support for Bolsonaro. President Jair Bolsonaro's followers, benefiting from the opportunistic exploitation of Lula's words by Globo Network and the mainstream media, seized upon this phrase from the PT leader to reignite the flame of his demonization, a process to which he has been subjected for at least a decade.

Bolsonarism, which is on the ropes, is now trying to find breathing room by distorting the former president's position, due to the "thank goodness" comment, which admittedly was characteristic of situations where a politician or leader makes a small discursive error or expresses himself poorly. Only two categories of people fail to recognize that there was a mistake and not a reflection of Lula's thinking in the episode in question: those who use intellectual dishonesty to try to destroy the Workers' Party member, and the fanatical extremist Bolsonarists.

Anyone with good intentions and common sense, considering the former president's retraction and apology for such a communication blunder, would understand that it was a mistake and in no way reflects his biography or his political position regarding the pandemic. Much less the role of the state. As several journalists have observed, Lula gave hundreds of interviews – many of them brilliant – in which he highlighted the central role of public authorities in confronting Covid-19.

Criticism of Bolsonaro

The former president's criticisms of the federal government's catastrophic handling of the crisis, especially Bolsonaro's, are public and well-known. From the beginning, Bolsonaro has sought to downplay the seriousness of the new coronavirus and hinder the necessary actions to address the problem. The PT leader, like the vast majority of the population, views with revulsion and disapproval the stance of the occupant of the Palácio do Planalto, who, instead of governing and supporting the Brazilian people at this crucial moment, prefers to wage war against the governors.

For more than two months, Lula has been speaking to the press, defending the government's role, among other aspects, in investing available resources – and there are many, contrary to the lies of the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes – to expand, for example, the capacity to provide medical care to victims. The appropriate formula to strengthen the Unified Health System (SUS) is widely recognized by all and involves the installation of thousands of new operational intensive care unit (ICU) beds for the most seriously ill.

This is just one of the measures to be taken by the Ministry of Health, but the economic issue, which Bolsonaro insists on addressing through the end of social isolation, gives even more dramatic contours to the health crisis. And the former president shows that the solution will not come through that path. In his pronouncements, Lula corroborates the global notion that advocates credit and income for all segments, especially the most needy. This makes his position very clear. The rest is manipulation to fuel anti-PT sentiment.