Translated by Brasil Wire.
Bulletin #1 – People’s Committee in defense of Lula and Democracy
Direct from São Bernardo do Campo / São Paulo/ Brazil 6/4/2018 – 12 PM
1. Lula spent the night at the Metal Workers Union Headquarters surrounded by young and old school workers from ABC, cradle of the new trade union movement in the seventies, and where his Worker’s Party was born. The former Brazilian president met hundreds of comrades until 3 AM. Outside the building, thousands of people in vigil showed their support to Lula.
2. At 3 AM, Lula came to a second floor window to wave to the crowd before he went to sleep. At 7 PM, he was already awake and meeting supporters.
3. Surrounded by friends, comrades, political leaders and activists, Lula is in a serene mood. He’s conscious of his innocence and aware he’s being victimized by an unprecedented judicial persecution based on political bias.
4. Many artists and intellectuals came by to show their support to Lula. Among them are filmmakers Anna Muylaert (“Que horas ela volta?”), Tata Amaral (“Um Céu de Estrelas”), Laís Bodanzky (“Bicho de Sete Cabeças”, “Como Nossos Pais”) and Petra Costa (“Elena”), singers and songwriters Chico Cesar, Taciana Barros (ex-Gang 90) and rapper Thaíde, actors Ailton Graça and Celso Frateschi. Songwriter Chico Buarque, actor Fábio Assunção and singer Ana Cañas called Lula on the phone to express their sympathy and support.
5. Also jurists like former minister José Eduardo Cardoso and professor Carol Proner visited Lula at the Union Headquarters. Among two dozens of lawyers and legal experts, they expressed their sympathy and denounced the pursuit of Lula as “legal nonsense”.
6. The crowds are still growing around the ABC Metal Worker’s Union Headquarters, in São Bernardo do Campo, surrounding this iconic place that carries so much meaning for fight for freedom, democracy and social rights in Brazilian history.
7. São Bernardo do Campo is where a political project that changed the history of Brazil was born. From the struggle lead by metalworkers in the seventies, Workers Party was born to raise Brazilian people, for the first time in five centuries, to be protagonist and builder of their destiny. This project’s righteousness is recognized worldwide. Above all approved by the Brazilian people as a whole, which gave the Workers’ Party four consecutive victories in the presidential elections.
8. Lula’s conviction was based on lies, fraud, and distortions of legal norms. His arrest warrant also violates fundamental precepts and violates the right to full defense.
Bulletin #2 – People’s Committee in Defense of Lula and Democracy
Direct from São Bernardo do Campo / São Paulo/ Brazil 6/4/2018 – 02:30 p.m.
1. Lula met with the Povo Sem Medo and Frente Brasil Popular fronts. From Guilherme Boulos and Gilmar Mauro he heard more than a message of solidarity: he heard that social movements will be with Lula to the end in his quest for justice. Lula is innocent. Those who condemned him want to prevent the Brazilian people from putting their best President back in office.
2. The streets around the union building are full. Thousands of Brazilians, men and women, from the four corners of the country, stand in front of the historic union, promising to defend the president. Social movement leaders take turns on the sound truck to address the incoming people.
3. International media is unmasking the partisan and hateful coverage in the Brazilian media. Newspapers around the world have exposed the politically motivated conviction of the president.
4. The family of the former president is at his side. Everyone is serene. Within the headquarters of the Metalworkers’ Union, the climate is one of solidarity and indignation. The drummers of the Levante Juventude Popular plays and sings songs in protest at the former president’s arrest order.
5. Political leaders of PCdoB, PSoL, PCO, PDT and PSB are also at the union headquarters and have condemned the order for Lula’s arrest.
6. Progressive media around the world are giving alternative coverage on their networks.
7. International Solidarity. Several world leaders have expressed their solidarity and support to Lula, such as Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Jose Mujica, Rafael Correa, Evo Morales, Nicolás Maduro, Ricardo Lagos, Cristina Kirchner, Fernando Lugo, José Miguel Insulza, Manuel Zelaya and others.
Bulletin #3 – People’s Committee in Defense of Lula and Democracy
Direct from São Bernardo do Campo/ São Paulo/ Brazil 6/4/2018 – 9pm
1. More and more Lula feels the affection and willingness of the militants to defend him from the greatest injustice committed in the History of Brazil. More than 15,000 people are in front of the ABC Metalworkers’ Union. They will not abandon the rally and many more people are expected to arrive throughout the night.
2. On Saturday, at 9am, there will be a mass to honor the memory of Marisa Letícia, who died in 2017 in the midst of a media and judicial massacre against Lula -her husband and partner for more than four decades. She would have turned 68 tomorrow April 7.
3. Former President Lula make a speech during the mass that will pay homage to Marisa Letícia.
4. Lula’s attorneys continue to use all available legal instruments to prevent the illegitimate arrest of the world’s greatest popular leader.
5. In Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Caracas, Lisbon, Paris and other cities around the world, public demonstrations took place this Friday in defense of democracy and Lula.
Bulletin #4 – People’s Committee in Defense of Lula and Democracy
Direct from São Bernardo do Campo/ São Paulo/ Brazil 7/4/2018
1. Lula received hundreds of visitors again last night. Comrades came from across the country to show their solidarity for him. This morning he woke up an had breakfast with his family.
2. At 9:30 AM he will go to a mass honoring his widow, Marisa Leticia, an activist who sewed the first Workers Party flag and who fought at Lula’s side for a more just and egalitarian Brazil for 43 years.
3. After the mass, there will be a music show with great artists who are also fighters for the Brazilian people: Leci Brandão, Maria Gadu, Flavio Renengado, Tulipa Ruiz, Xênia França, Aila, Thaide, Rico Dalasam, Fioti, Eduardo Brechó and others.
4. Last night (April 6), parliamentarians and political and union leaders in Argentina pressured the Macri Government to hold an urgent, extraordinary meeting of the South American Nation’s Union (Unasul) do discuss the crisis in Brazil caused by a rupture in democracy caused by the order for imprisonment of ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, based on a fraudulent process without giving him the broad right to defense.
5. A delegation of parliamentarians and union leaders from Argentina are arriving in São Bernardo this morning to show their solidarity and strengthen the defense of democracy and Lula.
6. Rede Globo, the largest enemy of Brazilian democracy since it was created in 1965, speaks about legality as if it were a bastion of respect for the law, has repeatedly used – without authorization or even giving credit- images filmed by the Workers TV network (TVT) in its transmissions, especially on its GloboNews station. It has also used unauthorized images from alternative press outlets such as Midia Ninja.
Bulletin #5 – People’s Committee for the Defense of Lula and Democracy.
7/4/2018 – 7:10 PM
1. Lula decided to voluntarily turn himself in to serve his illegal and illegitimate sentence. His decision was announced in a speech following the mass in honor of his companion of 43 years, Marissa Leticia, who would have turned 68 today.
2. The ex-president left the stage into the arms of the people, literally. The more than 30,000 people who witnessed his historic speech in person carried Lula in their arms in an image which has circulated around the planet.
3. Several hours passed after the end of the speech but the crowd refused to leave the area around the ABC Metalworkers Union. The people who occupied the union headquarters sat down in front of all the doors and automobile exits, blocking Lula from leaving to the Federal Police headquarters in São Paulo. The emblematic scene symbolized the determination of the Brazilian people to protect their greatest leader from suffering such an unprecedented injustice.
4. Workers Party (PT) National Leadership spoke with the judiciary to avoid any kind of sanction that would further complicate Lula’s situation. At 6:50 PM, Lula left the union headquarters.
5. In Curitiba, the city where the puppets of the United States who destroyed the Brazilian economy and led a judicial persecution campaign against Lula are located, 500 PT party activists have already gathered and are awaiting the arrival of the ex-President.
“[Judge and Prosecutor Sergio] Moro dreams that the imprisonment of Lula will consecrate him. Instead, the image of Lula being carried in the arms of the people is circulating across the entire planet. This is the way that mediocre people are. They see themselves as giants while they are crushed by those who have really achieved greatness.” – Pablo Villaça
Bulletin #6 – People’s Committee in Defense of Lula and Democracy
Direct from Curitiba, Paraná,Brazil 8/4/2018 – 11:30 a.m
1. Lula complies with the judicial decision and went from being a victim of a judicial persecution to that of a political prisoner. He arrived in Curitiba at 10:00 p.m. and when the helicopter carrying him landed at the Federal Police headquarters there were more than 1,000 people there to support him, while about 60 activists of hatred harassed him.
2. Former President Lula was in the company of his attorney Cristiano Zanin Martins for a long period. He slept soundly and was not mistreated by the local agents. He remains calm and peaceful. His strength comes from the affection of the people, which feeds the feeling back.
3. The vigil in Curitiba to support the greatest president of our history will be permanent. Visits from international leaders are being scheduled. Until the day Lula is released, thousands of people will spend every day in the place that Sergio Moro hoped would be known only as the city where Lula is serving his sentence, but in reality it will become a landmark of the pilgrimage of the Brazilian people for justice, democracy and respect for fundamental rights.
4. This image – of thousands of people expressing solidarity to a political prisoner in front of the place where Lula is being punished illegally and illegitimately – was not in the Judge Sérgio Moro’s plan. The same plan that he outlined during a one-hour lecture in the Chamber of the Deputies when he quoted the United States 15 times*. To the grief of Yankee interests and Brazil’s fascist right-wing activists, Sérgio Moro transformed Lula into a living martyr, a symbol of what elites are able to do to prevent people from being treated with respect and dignity by rulers.
5. Speaking of fascism, the Federal Police showed their brutality at the exact same time Lula’s helicopter landed. More than two dozen people – including children and elderly people – were injured by the Federal Police’s attack with tear gas bombs. There are tons of videos and photos on the Internet that exposes the level of violence of the Brazilian police to the world. An occurence report was registered in the 4th Police District of Curitiba and the section of the Brazilian Bar Association of Paraná will follow the investigation that will be opened on Monday to investigate the case.
6. At 3:00 pm today in Curitiba, a press conference will be held – with a live broadcast on the Internet – on PF’s violence against the vigil and other issues related to Lula’s defense.
7. Throughout the day many caravans with Lula’s supporters from various cities around Curitiba are expected to arrive. Only in the state of Santa Catarina, more than 1,000 people are confirmed.
8. Judge Sérgio Moro, Lava-Jato’s prosecutors, and the Federal Police in Curitiba thought they would be Lula’s prison officers, but in fact they will become the postmen of the Brazilian people to the greatest symbol of popular struggle that has ever existed in Brazil . Letters to Lula can be sent to the following address:
Superintendência Policia Federal
Para Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
R. Profa. Sandália Monzon, 210 – Santa Cândida, Curitiba/PR
CEP: 82640-040
* Video of Sergio Moro declaring his love for the United States:
Bulletin #8 – People’s Committee in Defense of Lula and Democracy
Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil 9/4/2018
1. “We are not leaving here without Lula”. This is the orientation of the Workers Party (PT) National President, Senator Gleisi Hoffmann (Parana), on the length of time that the participants of the democratic vigil, #LulaLivre, will remain camped out around the Curitiba Federal Police building, where the ex-president is being held as a political prisoner.
2. Defense lawyer Cristiano Zanin met with Lula this Sunday and says that he was calm, although very angry with the injustice that he is suffering. “Neither the condemnation nor the imprisonment before the appeals process finished are compatible with our legislation,” the lawyer said.
3. The PT national leadership will meet at 2 PM today at party headquarters in Curitiba.
4. A musical performance by singer Ana Cañas cheered up and inspired the people at the vigil. This political act in which diverse congressmen and women along with PT President Gleisi Hoffman are participating, serves to strengthen the certainty that Lula is a political prisoner.
5. The World is watching what is happening with attention and perplexity at the moment. Olímpio Cruz, who was President Dilma Rousseff’s Press Secretary, has made an analysis of international press coverage. “The photo of Lula, surrounded by a crowd in front of the ABC Metallurgical Workers Union, taken by Francisco Proner, was distributed by Reuters to everyone and reproduced in important newspapers, such as the English Guardian and the Canadian Globe and Mail [along with the North American New York Times and the Spanish El Pais]. The stories printed by the main news agencies – AP, Reuters, Bloomberg, AFP, EFE, DW and Prensa Latina – spread across the whole World,” she said.
6. In this context, Dilma Rousseff, who is the only legitimate president in Brazil until December 31, will give a series of lectures in Spain and the United States in the days to come. On Tuesday, April 10, Dilma will speak at the Casa de America in Madrid and on Wednesday, at the Law College in Barcelona. In the United States, Dilma will participate in conferences at the University of California, Berkeley on April 16, Stanford on April 17 and San Diego State on the 18th. Let’s be vigilant.
7. During a show in Buenos Aires on Sunday Night, music legend Elza Soares denounced the coup against Brazilian democracy and the attempt to imprison “our dreams”. The large crowd at the Nestor Kirchner Cultural Center responded in force, with chants of “Free Lula! Free Lula! Free Lula!”. The video is available on the internet.
Bulletin #9 – People’s Committee in Defence of Lula and Democracy
Curitiba, Parana, Brazil. 9/4/2018
1. This Monday started with dozens of convoys arriving from across Brazil. There are over a thousand people thousand people here now. Antonio Nunes Oliveira, who works as a doorman in downtown Curitiba, says that he can’t stay in front of the Federal Police building, where Lula is being held, for the entire time, but guarantees that he will be here every day between 7-10 AM. “It’s nothing compared to everything that Lula has done for us,” he said.
2. At 10:30 AM we received a visit from Manuela D’Avila, State Congresswoman from Rio Grande do Sul and per-candidate for the Brazilian presidency. She arrived with a group of directors of the Partido Communista do Brasil (Brazilian Communist Party/PC do B). There were also visits by federal Congressmen like Zé Geraldo (Workers Party/PT- Para), Décio Lima (PT- Santa Catarina) and the congressional and senatorial leaders of the PT party Paulo Pimenta (Rio Grande do Sul) and Lindbergh Farias (Rio de Janeiro). Former Congressman Angelo Vanhoni (PT-Parana) also arrived at the vigil for ex-president Lula.
3. Manuela gave an emotional speech. She invited people across the country to come to Curitiba and recalled the zeal that Lula had for everyone who was around him even during the most tense moments in São Bernardo do Campo. “Lula walked into the rooms asking the workers if they were all getting enough to eat. Even in the worst moments he comforted us,” she said.
4. There was an incident which, once again, showed the face of the fascist Brazilian right. A provocateur came out of the Federal Police building and up to Manuela and came very close to hitting her. Manuela, Lindbergh and Pimenta demanded that the police identify the fascist and keep him away from the vigil, which continues on in a spirit of peace and companionship, feelings that are unknown to the right.
5. At 2PM a meeting of the PT national directorate began at the party headquarters in Curitiba, where they are scheduled to discuss the challenges ahead to defend ex-President Lula. Party president Gleisi Hoffman said that the PT national headquarters during this period will be transferred to Curitiba. Dr. Rosinha, Parana State PT party president, organized a reception and solidarity committee for those who are arriving.
6. During the next two weeks, Dilma Rousseff, Manuela D´Avila and Guilherme Boulos will travel to several foreign countries denouncing what is happening in Brazil. The international press continues to denounce Lula’s political imprisonment.
[qpp]
