Brazil's Lula defies prison order as crowds rally for and against him

[sandensea]

Source: Washington Post

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio 'Lula' da Silva defied a judge’s order to report to prison Friday, setting up a showdown with authorities and triggering demonstrations around the country both for and against the charismatic politician.

The former president, 72, was sentenced in January to 12 years in prison for accepting bribes from a large Brazilian construction company in return for government contracts. He denies any wrongdoing and has called the case a political witch hunt.

Lula told local media he did not intend to turn himself in, and spent the night at the headquarters of the metalworkers’ union in São Paulo where he began his career four decades ago. Outside, a banner read, “An election without Lula is fraud!”

Lula, who appears set to be the first Brazilian president to be jailed since the country’s military dictatorship ended in 1985, is leading in the polls ahead of a presidential election in October. He has vowed to continue his campaign from behind bars, if necessary.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/brazils-lula-refuses-to-report-to-prison-setting-off-demonstrations-by-both-supporters-and-opponents/2018/04/06/01b4ee1c-393f-11e8-af3c-2123715f78df_story.html

---

Brazilian presidential candidate Lula da Silva waves to crowds outside metalworkers' union headquarters, where he has sought refuge from an arrest order seeking to bar him from running in this year's elections.

Outside, a banner read, “An election without Lula is fraud!”

[LiberalLovinLug]

1. There has always been a human weakness for adoration of meglomaniacs

Other strong man leaders around the globe. Putin has something like an 80% approval rating. Silvio Berlusconi in Italy is making a comeback. If a leader has enough ego, combined with charisma, he can be as corrupt as he wants to be, shoot someone on 5th avenue, he will still get that percent of voters that are mesmerized by that kind of brash narcissism.

Its a human sickness. I don't know how we can fight that.

[wobblie]

2. You know next to nothing about Brazilian Politics

If you think Lula is a "strongman" I've got a bridge in Brooklyn you will want to buy. The current regime running Brazil is all a front for the plutocrats.

[Judi Lynn]

3. So good to see your comment. You are aware of what has been happening there, clearly.

Thank you, wobblie.

[Spouting1horn]

8. What's concerning

in Brazil is the rise of "right wing" ideology amongst newly converted "Evangelicals."

Can't the conversions be stopped?

[marble falls]

9. You don't like freedom of religion? The problem is the politics, not the relegion.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Saturday update: Crowds in S​​o Paulo block Lula from handing himself in

Crowds in S​​ão Paulo block Lula from handing himself in
Former president of Brazil, who leads polls ahead of elections, faces 12 years in prison
Reuters in Brazil
Sat 7 Apr 2018 17.43 EDT Last modified on Sat 7 Apr 2018 17.59 EDT

Supporters of former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva blocked his car from leaving a metal workers union where he has been holed up.

Lula, convicted of corruption, said earlier on Saturday he would turn himself in to police, a day after defying a judge’s order to start serving a 12-year prison sentence for corruption that derails his effort to return to power this year.

In a fiery speech to a crowd of red-shirted supporters outside a steelworkers union headquarters, Brazil’s first working-class president insisted on his innocence and called his bribery conviction a political crime, but relented after a nearly 24-hour standoff with authorities.

“I will comply with the order and all of you will become Lula,” he had told the cheering crowd. “I’m not above the law. If I didn’t believe in the law, I wouldn’t have started a political party. I would have started a revolution.”

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/07/crowds-in-sao-paulo-block-lula-from-handing-himself-in

[Judi Lynn]

5. Lula begins prison sentence in Brazil after giving himself up to police

Lula begins prison sentence in Brazil after giving himself up to police
The former president vows to prove his innocence of corruption after ending a two-day standoff with the authorities
Sam Cowie in São Bernardo do Campo

@samcowie84
Sat 7 Apr 2018 22.58 EDT

Brazil’s former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has handed himself in to police after spending two nights at the metalworkers’ union headquarters in São Paulo in defiance of an arrest warrant.

“I’m going to prove my innocence,” Lula told a large crowd of adoring supporters on Saturday at the building where he began his political career. “Do what you want, the powerful can kill one, two or 100 roses. But they’ll never manage to stop the arrival of spring.”

Afterwards, he was carried on the shoulders of supporters shouting “Free Lula!” before being flown to the southern city of Curitiba where he will begin serving a 12-year sentence for corruption.

Military police in Curitiba were later forced to disperse Lula supporters with rubber bullets and tear gas when he arrived at a police station in the city.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/07/crowds-in-sao-paulo-block-lula-from-handing-himself-in

[Judi Lynn]

6. Folha de S.Paulo: Lula Arrested

04/07/2018 - 19H02

Former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 72, was placed under arrest on Saturday (the 7th) after turning himself in to the Federal Police.

More than 48 hours had passed since the issuing of the detention order by federal judge Sergio Moro on Thursday (the 5th) and Lula's arrest.

Judge Sergio Moro had ordered the arrest of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and stipulated that he turn himself in to the Federal Police in Curitiba by 5 PM on Friday (the 6th). Instead of this, Lula agreed yesterday morning to turn himself in after a Mass for his deceased wife, Marisa, who died in 2017.

The former president had spent the last two days inside of the headquarters of the ABC Metalworkers Union in São Bernando, where thousands of militants had congregated.

More:
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/brazil/2018/04/1963956-lula-arrested.shtml

[sandensea]

7. For Lula, the second time a dictatorship has imprisoned him w/o habeas corpus

The first, of course, being in 1980 when the Figueredo regime jailed him for organizing a strike.

They sentenced him to 3 years - but relented after a month or so thanks to massive protests.

My guess though is that the Temer dictatorship won't be as reasonable as Figueredo's was (incredibly). The Latin American RW is nothing if not vindictive.

Link to tweet

Lula in 1980 and today: History repeats itself (he prevailed the first time).