Radical leftist President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Thursday that former President Jair Bolsonaro must “pay for the shit he did,” referring to the ongoing “coup” trial against Bolsonaro.
Lula also criticized Donald Trump for supporting Bolsonaro against what the American president called a “witch hunt” by Lula’s government and accused Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo of influencing the United States to impose sanctions on Brazil.
Lula delivered his rant during a government event in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais — reportedly marking the first time that Lula directly has spoken on the possibility of a prison sentence for Bolsonaro. The conservative former president stands accused alongside others of plotting to stage a “coup” and overturn the results of the 2022 presidential election, which Bolsonaro narrowly lost against Lula.
“Unlike our opponent [Bolsonaro], the guy who tried to pull a fast one to keep me from taking office, he didn’t have the guts to wait for me,” Lula said. “Like a rat running away, he did the stupid things he did, and now he’s sent his son to leave his job as a federal congressman and go to Washington to ask President Trump to intervene in Brazil.”
“It’s a disgrace. It shows a lack of character and courage. He did the shit he did, so he should pay for it and respect the Brazilian people. There is justice here,” he continued.
President Trump cited the “witch hunt” against Bolsonaro as one of the reasons for imposing a 50-percent tariff on Brazilian goods, which will go into effect on August 1. Lula, whose government denounced the upcoming tariffs as “arbitrary” and “chaotic” at the World Trade Organization (WTO), reportedly criticized Trump over his “disrespectful” remarks.
“Does he [Trump] believe in witches? Does anyone here believe in witches to have witch hunts? He sent a letter asking them to stop persecuting Bolsonaro. A disrespectful affront to Brazil and the Brazilian justice system,” Lula said, apparently misinterpreting the common American idiom “witch hunt.”
Although Lula criticized Trump, he reportedly said that he is “open to dialogue” with the U.S. government and claimed that Trump “doesn’t want to talk, if he wanted to talk he would pick up the phone and call me.”
“If they want to negotiate, we will negotiate. We have the best negotiators in the world,” Lula said, adding that “Lulinha [himself] will be ready to negotiate.”
“But he didn’t want to talk. He gave us until the 1st [of August]. If we don’t respond by the 1st, he will impose a 50-percent tariff on our trade,” he said at another point of his speech. “I’ll tell you something, I’m not from Minas Gerais, but I’m good at truco [“trick,” a card game]. If Trump is playing truco, he’s going to get a six [low-value card in the game.]”
Last week, hours after President Trump published a letter expressing his support to Bolsonaro, Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes accused Bolsonaro of engaging in “extortion” against the STF by allegedly seeking to obtain amnesty for himself in exchange for purported U.S. tariff relief. Bolsonaro had publicly expressed willingness to intercede on behalf of Brazil to negotiate on tariffs, citing his friendly ties with Trump.
Bolsonaro responded to Trump’s letter to him by posting it on his own social media account along with a short clip in which he thanks Trump for the letter.
Hours later, de Moraes, who is the rapporteur of the ongoing “coup” trial against Bolsonaro and has overseen several other judicial proceedings against Bolsonaro and his family, imposed a series of “precautionary measures” on the former president, such as a mandatory electronic ankle bracelet, curfew, and a prohibition from using social media.
On Monday, de Moraes threatened to order Bolsonaro’s arrest after he allegedly “circumvented” the terms of the restrictions by speaking to reporters and showing them the ankle bracelet as he left from a meeting at the Brazilian Congress.
The STF justice partially backtracked on his threats in a new ruling on Thursday in which he determined that Bolsonaro is not prohibited from giving interviews or making public or private speeches. De Moraes stated that, although there was “non-compliance” of the terms, it was an “isolated” incident that did not warrant Bolsonaro’s arrest. De Moraes nevertheless warned the former president that future non-compliance will result in “immediate prison” and reiterated that Bolsonaro is prohibited from publishing interviews related to ongoing investigations against him on his social media accounts or those of third parties.
Lula also rejected a prospective rare mineral deal between the United States and Brazil after the head of the U.S. embassy in Brazil, Gabriel Escobar, reportedly expressed to representatives of the Brazilian Mining Institute the United States’ interest in signing strategic mineral agreements with Brazil. The representatives told the U.S. diplomat that all negotiations must be handled by the Brazilian federal government. Lula emphasized during his speech that “no one touches anything here.”
“We have all our oil to protect. We have all our gold to protect. We have all the rich minerals you want to protect. And no one here is going to touch them. This country belongs to the Brazilian people,” Lula said.
Although Lula publicly rejected the proposal, CNN Brasil reported on Thursday that Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin did not rule out the possibility of a mineral agreement with the United States as part of the ongoing tariff talks with the U.S. government.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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