By Ignacio Ramonet
The former president of Brazil, Luiz InĆ”cio Lula da Silva, imprisoned in the city of Curitiba, in the south of the country, is only allowed two visits per week. One hour. On Thursday afternoons, from four to five. We have to wait our turn. And the list of those who want to see him is longā¦ But today, September 12, itās time for Adolfo PĆ©rez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and me.
Lula is in prison, serving a sentence of 12 years and 1 month āfor passive corruption and money launderingā, but he has not been definitively convicted (he can still appeal) and above all, his accusers have not been able to prove his guilt. It was all a farce. As confirmed by the devastating revelations of āThe Interceptā, an online research magazine run by Glenn Greenwald. Lula has been the victim of the most absolute arbitrariness. A totally manipulated legal plot, destined to ruin his popularity and eliminate him from political life and to assassinate him in the media. Thus preventing him from standing and winning the 2018 presidential elections. A sort of āpreventive coup dāĆ©tatāā¦
In addition to being judged in an absolutely arbitrary and indecent manner, Lula has been permanently lynched by the large dominant media groups ā particularly O Globo ā at the service of the interests of the largest businessmen, with a fierce and revanchist hatred against the best president in Brazilās history. When his older brother, Genival āVavĆ”ā, the most beloved, died, he was not allowed to attend the funeral, despite being a right guaranteed by law. And when his grandson Arthur, 7 years old, the closest, died of meningitis, he was only allowed to go for an hour and a half (!) to the wakeā¦ Humiliation, humiliation, miserable revengeā¦
Visitors are allowed to bring to the prisoner books and letters. Weāre not going to see him in a special visiting room but in his own cell where heās locked up. At the end of a small corridor, on the left, is the door. There is an armed guard sitting in front who opens the door for us. In no way does this resemble a prison ā except for the guards ā it looks more like an administrative and anonymous office space. The chief jailer, Jorge Chastalo (it is written on his shirt), tall, strong, blond, with blue-green eyes and tattooed forearms, has accompanied us here. A kind and constructive man who has, I see, cordial relations with his prisoner.
The cell-room is rectangular. In the left corner of the back is the single bed. Above the bed, nailed to the wall, are five large color photographs of the recently deceased little Arthur and Lulaās other grandchildren with their parents.
All modest and austere, even Spartan, for a man who was for eight years the president of one of the worldās ten major powersā¦ But everything is very neat, very clean, very organizedā¦
With his usual affection, warm embraces and words of friendship and affection, Lula welcomes us with his characteristic voice, hoarse and powerful. He looks very healthy, robust, and strong: āI walk nine kilometers a dayā he tells us. And in excellent psychological condition: āWe will wait for better times to be pessimistic,ā he says, āI have never been depressive, never, since I was born; and I am not going to be now.ā
I give him the two books I have brought to him, the Brazilian editions of āOne Hundred Hours with Fidelā and āHugo Chavez, My First Lifeā.
We asked him about his state of mind. āToday it is 522 days since I entered this prison on Saturday, April 7, 2017ā¦ And yesterday it was exactly one year since I had to make the most difficult decision, to write the letter in which I resigned to be a candidate in the presidential elections of 2018ā¦ I was in this cell, aloneā¦ doubtingā¦ because I realized that I was giving in to what my adversaries wantedā¦. to prevent me from being a candidateā¦ It was a hard momentā¦ one of the hardestā¦ and I was completely alone hereā¦ I thought: Itās like giving birth with a lot of pain and without anyone to hold your handā¦ āā¦
He opens the book āOne Hundred Hours with Fidelā and says to me: āI met Fidel in 1985, exactly in mid-July 1985ā¦ I was in Havana for the first time participating in the Trade Union Conference of Latin American and Caribbean Workers on External Debtā¦ I had already left the CUT, I was no longer a trade unionist, I was a full-time General Secretary of the PT and a candidate in the legislative elections of the following yearā¦ But there were not only trade unionists in that Conference, Fidel had also invited intellectuals, professors, economists, and political leadersā¦ I remember that it was already about five oāclock in the afternoon, he presided over the conference and it was very boringā¦ Then Fidel, whom I did not know personally, sent me a message asking if I was going to speakā¦ I replied that no, that I had not planned to.. He then almost gave me an order: āBut the CUT didnāt want me to take the floor in any wayā¦ So I didnāt know what to doā¦ At about seven oāclock in the afternoon, and surprisingly, Fidel announces that I have the floorā¦ I was almost forced to take it, I got up, went to the podiumā¦ and began to speakā¦ without translationā¦ I made a long speech and ended up sayingā¦: āComrade Fidel, I want to tell the friends gathered here that the United States is trying by all means to convince us that they are invincibleā¦ But Cuba has defeated them, Vietnam has defeated them, Nicaragua has defeated them, and El Salvador is also going to defeat themā¦ We must not be afraid of them! ā There was loud applause. Well, the day ends, and I go to my assigned house in Laguitoā¦ And when I arrivedā¦ who was waiting for me in the little living room of the house? Fidel and RaĆŗl! The two of them sitting there waiting for meā¦ Fidel began to ask me where I had learned to speak like thatā¦ I told them about my lifeā¦ And thatās how we became friends forever.ā
āI must say, adds Lula, that Fidel was always very respectful, never gave me unrealistic adviceā¦ He never asked me to do crazy thingsā¦ Prudentā¦ Moderateā¦ A wise manā¦ A geniusā¦ā
I ask him how he judges these first eight months of Jair Bolsonaroās rule.ā Bolsonaro is handing over the country,ā he replies. And I am convinced that everything that is happening is being piloted by Petrobrasā¦ Because of the super-extension of offshore Pre-Sal oil, the largest in the world, with fabulous reserves, of very high qualityā¦ discovered in 2006 in our territorial watersā¦ although it is at great depth, more than six thousand meters, I can even say that the reactivation of the 4th Fleet, by Washington, which patrols along the Atlantic coasts of South America, was decided when the Pre-Salt deposit was discoveredā¦ That is why we, along with Argentina, Venezuela, Uruguay, Ecuador, Bolivia, etcā¦ created the Security Council of UNASURā¦ It was a determining element.
āBrazil,ā continues Lula, āhas always been a country dominated by elites who voluntarily submitted to the United Statesā¦ It was only when we came to power in 2003 that Brazil began to play a leading roleā¦ We joined the G-20, founded the BRICS (with Russia, India, China and South Africa), organized ā for the first time in an emerging country ā the Olympic Games, the World Cupā¦ Never was there so much regional integration in Latin Americaā¦. For example, our exchanges within Mercosur were started with 15 billion dollars, when I finished my two mandates they rose to 50 billionā¦ Even with Argentina, when I arrived they were 7 billion, when I finished 35 billionā¦ The United States does not want us to be the protagonist. It did not want us to have economic, financial, political and industrial sovereignty, and even less a militaryā¦ They do not want, for example, Brazil to sign agreements with France on nuclear submarinesā¦ We had made progress on that, with President FranƧois Hollande, but with Bolsonaro it all collapsedā¦ Even that miserable declaration, so frighteningly anti-feminist, against Monique, the wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, must be placed in that contextā¦
The time of the visit is ending. We talked about many of his friends who still have high-level political responsibilities in various countries or in international organizations. He asks us to convey his most affectionate greetings to each and every one of them, and thanks them for their solidarity.
He insists on the following: āSay that I am well, as you can see. I am aware of why I am in prison. I know that very well. I am not unaware of the number of lawsuits against me. I donāt think they will release me. If the Supreme Court finds me innocent, there are already other trials going on against me so that I will never leave here. They donāt want me free, they donāt want to take any riskā¦ That doesnāt scare meā¦ Iām prepared to be patientā¦ And as far as Iām concerned, Iām luckyā¦ a hundred years ago, I would have been hanged, shot or quarteredā¦ to make me forget any moment of rebellionā¦ Iām aware of my roleā¦ Iām not going to abdicateā¦ I know my responsibility before the Brazilian peopleā¦ Iām in jail, but I donāt complain, I feel freer than millions of Brazilians who donāt eat, donāt work, donāt have a homeā¦ it seems that they are free but they are prisoners of their social condition, from which they canāt get outā¦ā
I prefer to be here being innocent, than outside being guilty. To all those who believe in my innocence, I say: Do not defend me only with blind faithā¦ Read the revelations of the āInterceptā. Everything is there, argued, tested, and demonstrated. Defend me with argumentsā¦ Elaborate a narrative, a storyā¦ Whoever does not elaborate a narrative, in todayās world, loses the war.
I am convinced that the judges and prosecutors who set up the manipulation to imprison me do not sleep with the calm that I have. They do not have a clear conscience. I am innocent. But I donāt just sit back and do nothing. What matters is the struggle.ā
for the complete interview in Spanish go to: Cubadebate
Source URL: Resumen Latinoamericano – English
