Wednesday, September 21, 2022

BECAUSE OF COURSE HE DOES
Bolsonaro uses his UN loudspeaker to attack Lula two weeks before Brazil’s elections

The president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, used his lectern on Tuesday at the start of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly to attack, without naming him, his rival in the elections in two weeks, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.



Archive - Jair Bolsonaro speaks at the UN General Assembly - UN PHOTO/CIA PAK© Provided by News 360

"During my administration we have put an end to the systemic corruption that existed in the country. Between 2003 and 2015, the period in which the left presided over Brazil, the level of indebtedness of Petrobas (...) reached 170 billion dollars. The person responsible has been convicted," he said in reference to Lula, exonerated of the charges due to the malpractice of the courts.

After the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, Bolsonaro was the next to take the floor, as is the tradition in the United Nations Assembly, and he took the opportunity to highlight the economic policies of his government, especially during the coronavirus health crisis.

Bolsonaro defended that they have sufficient "authority" to give their opinion on the world health agenda "since no effort was spared in saving lives and guaranteeing jobs", at the same time that "a broad vaccination program" against COVID-19 was implemented.

"With more than 210 million people, more than 80 percent are fully vaccinated. All of them voluntarily, respecting their individual freedom," said Bolsonaro, who blamed his government's economic measures for the fall in poverty generated by the pandemic in Brazil.

"The denounced have returned a billion dollars and we have paid to the US stock market another billion due to the losses of investors", all this, he said, while continuing to invest in public services and in science and technology.

DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENT 

Bolsonaro highlighted Brazil's role as one of the world's leading food exporters. This, he has pointed out, is due to the "huge investments" that have been allocated to science and innovation. "If it were not for Brazilian agriculture, the planet would go hungry," he has said.

Regarding the environment, Bolsonaro has assured that "Brazil is part of the solution and an example for the world," thus responding to criticism of his policies in the Amazon. "More than 80 percent of the forests have not been touched, contrary to what the media mentions," he has protested.

INTERNATIONAL CONFLICTS

 The Brazilian president also pointed out that while the current United Nations has served to restore peace after World War II, the current conflict in Ukraine has served as a "warning" and advocated "a reform" to find world peace "After 25 years of debates in the Security Council, we have to look for innovative solutions. Brazil approaches the issue based on experience dating back to the beginnings of the United Nations. We have tried our best to offer negotiated solutions to pacify conflicts," he said.

Among those solutions, he has explained, is the opening of its borders for all those fleeing conflicts, mentioning the case of the 350,000 Venezuelan brothers and sisters who have found shelter in Brazilian territory since 2018. "We have also welcomed Haitians, Syrians, Afghans and Ukrainians."

As far as Ukraine is concerned, Bolsonaro wanted to thank countries such as Poland, Hungary or Slovakia for their help in evacuating Brazilian citizens when Russia started the invasion seven months ago now.

In reference to the conflict itself, he has pointed out that Brazil is governed by the principles of international law and the United Nations Charter. "We advocate for an immediate ceasefire, for the protection of non-combatant civilians, the safeguarding of infrastructures to help the population and the maintenance of all channels of the parties to the conflict."

"These are the first steps towards finding a lasting and sustainable solution. We have worked in this sense in the United Nations and other places, we have tried to avoid hindering the channels of dialogue by the polarization of the conflict", said Bolsonaro "That is why we oppose diplomatic and economic isolation, as it is felt in the world prices of food, fuel and other raw materials (...) We do not think that the best way is to adopt unilateral and selective sanctions that are not in line with international law", he insisted.

Bolsonaro has said that these restrictions have damaged the economies of many countries and that the conflict in Ukraine will only be resolved through dialogue. "Let's not waste any opportunity to resolve the conflict," he demanded.


Bolsonaro fined almost 1,000 euros for early electioneering propaganda

Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) has fined the campaign of the president, Jair Bolsonaro, 5,000 reais (about 975 euros) for carrying out advance electoral propaganda last April during an event in the city of Cuiabá, in the west of the country, where he participated in a motorcycle caravan.



Jair Bolsonaro. - PAULO LOPES / ZUMA PRESS / CONTACTOPHOTO

"Under the pretext of fulfilling his official agenda, he participated in a motorcycle caravan with a large number of people. It was an event of great electoral impact. Our jurisprudence is based on the electoral character of this type of events. The previous organization and the presence of the candidate prove it", explained the vice-president of the TSE, Ricardo Lewandowski, in the ruling.

During that multitudinous motorcycle ride, Bolsonaro and his team would have asked in advance the vote for his candidacy for reelection in the next elections on October 2, in which the president, in the best case scenario, would reach the second round far behind the favorite, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

The ruling comes as a result of a petition by the Workers' Party (PT), against a previous decision by Judge Maria Claudia Bucchianeri, who first considered that Bolsonaro's campaign team did not explicitly ask for the vote for him, recalls the newspaper 'O Globo'.

The latest survey published by the IPEC and Datafolha institutes this Monday, Lula continues to lead the presidential race with 47 percent of Brazilians' voting intention, just three percentage points away from winning in the first round. Bolsonaro remains with 31 percent.

At the state level, Tuesday's polls show how Lula has managed to take the lead in voting intention in Rio de Janeiro, with 41 percent, which means four points more than Bolsonaro. In Sao Paulo the situation is also favorable to the PT leader, with a lead that reaches ten percentage points, a distance that reaches 15 points in Minas Gerais.


Lula acknowledges that Brazil’s image in the organization of the 2014 World Cup was that of a corrupt country

Brazil's former president and candidate for the October elections, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has regretted that the organization of the 2014 World Cup left the image that "everyone stole" from the construction of the stadiums and acknowledged that they almost "destroyed" themselves with the organization of the event.


The former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. 
- MATHEUS PE / ZUMA PRESS / CONTACTOPHOTO

"We almost destroyed ourselves," he has acknowledged during a campaign event, in which he has also admitted that "the image of the country was that of a corrupt world championship organizer," local media reports.

"I confess my frustration with the World Cup, if I could do like an ostrich and put my head in the ground and not take it out, I would do it", confessed Lula, who during the soccer event was no longer president.

He pointed out that suspicions of corruption in the construction of the stadiums damaged the atmosphere of the tournament, despite the fact that the Court of Auditors of the Union only pointed out irregularities in the construction of the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

Lula, who governed Brazil between 2003 and 2010, aspires to return to the Planalto Palace on October 2, when Brazilians are called to the polls. Since he recovered his political rights after his convictions for corruption were annulled, the leader of the Workers' Party (PT) is comfortably leading the polls, so much so that it is not ruled out that he could win in the first round.

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