Former Brazilian President and leader of the Workers' Party (PT), Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, was released on November 8 detained in the Federal Police Curitiba Superintendency, in the state of Paraná. His freedom represents a victory for the peoples of Our America and international solidarity, a triumph of justice and truth against the offensive of the neoliberal right in the region.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez described Lula’s release on Twitter as: “A victory of ideas. A defeat for the imperial strategy and its lackeys... a triumph for the peoples, for solidarity and the truth," adding a heartfelt embrace for the tireless fighter who never surrendered his dignity.
On November 8, federal judge Danilo Pereira Junior ordered the release of Lula da Silva, responding to a request by his defense team before the Curitiba Federal Court, after the Federal Supreme Court issued an annulment of his prison sentence.
On November 7, by a vote of six to five, honoring the constitutional principle of presumption of innocence, the Supreme Court ruled that no one can be sentenced until a final verdict has been reached, with no other judicial processes underway. Since Lula’s defense still has appeals pending, he was freed.
Minutes after his release, before a crowd of supporters gathered outside the prison, singing the national anthem, and expressing their joy, Lula da Silva spoke, “Every day you sustained the democracy I needed to resist the rotten side of the state, and what they did to me and Brazilian society (...) They worked to criminalize the left, the PT and Lula (...) Everyone must know that they did not imprison a man, they tried to kill an idea and the idea was not killed, ideas do not disappear.
“I leave here with no hate. At 74 years of age, my heart only has room for love, because love will win in this country and not hate (...) I leave here with the greatest feeling of gratitude that a human being can have for others and that is what I feel for you (...) with the will to prove that this country can be much better, when you have a government that does not lie on Twitter, as Bolsonaro does. I am eternally grateful and I will be faithful to the struggle that you represent.”
Joined in the noble cause for Lula’s freedom were the voices of international figures, social movements, and millions of Brazilians during the 19 months in which he was imprisoned, after a judicial process marred by multiple irregularities. The Cuban people also joined the international campaign for the annulment of the charges against Lula, and over just 13 days in October, collected more than two million signatures demanding his release.
Lula is free, but the fight for the truth continues. Leaving the jail does not annul the charges or return his political rights. The Brazilian leader must continue the battle for definitive justice, with the support of the peoples of the world. On the front lines, faithful to our internationalist vocation for solidarity, the Cuban people will continue to defend his just cause.
In context
- The January 1, 2019, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee, referred to the circles of power in Washington that are using unconventional methods of warfare to prevent continuity, or return, of progressive governments in the region.
- “They promote rigged, politically motivated judicial processes, as well as campaigns of manipulation and discredit against left leaders and organizations, making use of their monopoly control of the mass media. In this way, they managed to imprison Lula da Silva and deprive him of the right to run as the Workers Party’s Presidential candidate and prevent his sure victory in the last elections. I take this opportunity to appeal to all honest political forces on the planet to demand his release,” Raul added.
- At the Anti-Imperialist Solidarity Conference, for Democracy and Against Neoliberalism, Fernando González Llort, president of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with Peoples, delivered to Gleisi Hoffmann, president of the Workers Party of Brazil, the signatures of more than two millions Cubans demanding Lula’s release.
