CUT: 'Lula's candidacy will be registered by thousands of people'
"We know that Lula is only in prison because he leads all the polls. If he weren't a candidate, he wouldn't be in prison," said the national president of CUT, Vagner Freitas, in a speech at a political rally in front of the TRF-4 (RS); "If Lula, who is a citizen of the world, can be treated this way, what will happen to the average citizen in the peripheries of Brazil if the law is not enforced against a former president of the Republic? Brazil has become a lawless country."
By Rede Brasil Atual - "We know that Lula is only in prison because he leads all the polls. If he wasn't a candidate, he wouldn't be in prison," said the national president of CUT, Vagner Freitas, in a statement at the political event in front of the Federal Regional Court of the Fourth Region (TRF-4), in Porto Alegre, on the afternoon of this Friday (13), as part of the National Day of Struggle for Lula's Freedom. For the leader, the situation of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is a threat that weighs on all Brazilian citizens, with the suspension of the democratic rule of law.
"If Lula, who is a citizen of the world, can be treated this way, what will happen to the average citizen in the outskirts of Brazil if the law is not enforced against a former president of the Republic? Brazil has become a lawless country," he warned.
He called on social movements, parties engaged in the struggle for democracy, and unions to remain mobilized for the release of the former president and promised that, on August 15th, the date scheduled for Lula's registration as a presidential candidate, the mobilization will "fill Brasília." "It will be a candidacy registered by thousands of people. Lula will be a candidate, he will be elected, and in January he will climb the steps of the Planalto Palace and propose a referendum to revoke all the acts that the coup plotters committed against Brazil," he said.
"This court broke the law. Lula had to be released immediately. The Minister of Justice (Raul Jungmann) and the Federal Police also broke the law, because they did not comply with the court decision (of Judge Rogério Favreto)," he criticized, referring to the TRF-4, which on Sunday (8) was at the center of the arbitrariness that defined the maintenance of Lula's imprisonment.
Freitas reaffirmed that the court's actions during the process are "political and self-serving" and that the damage is affecting Brazilian democracy. "They want Brazil to be a colony of international capital. What is happening to Brazil is obvious to the whole world." He recalled that the merits of the case against Lula have not been judged and that, as determined by the Brazilian Constitution, the former president cannot be imprisoned until there is a final ruling (Supreme Federal Court).
"Brazilian society must rise up against this. If tomorrow there is evidence against any of you, you will be arrested." According to him, a portion of the Brazilian judiciary is currently guided by "Ibope ratings" and coordinates its actions with the media. "Lula is imprisoned because they say he has an apartment he never owned," he added.
The president of CUT (Central Única dos Trabalhadores, a major Brazilian labor union) stated that the Judiciary's actions against Lula have a positive aspect. According to him, keeping Lula in prison has mobilized workers "to make August a month of struggle." "This farce that happened on Sunday only adds fuel to our fire to make the National Day of Enough is Enough on August 10th even stronger, to paralyze Brazil, with workers demonstrating against the high cost of living, against unemployment, and for Lula's freedom."
Freitas travels to Cuba on Friday night to participate in the 24th Annual Meeting of the São Paulo Forum, in the capital, Havana, from July 15 to 17. Left-wing parties and progressive movements from the region will participate.