'Fanatical, rabid far right' on Lula's watchlist: Brazil

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
20 Jan 00:37
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Lula vows to contend the fanatical far right which has plagued Brazil and the world at large.

Elected President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva speaks after winning the presidential run-off election, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on October 30, 2022. (Nelson Almeida/AFP)

The president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, expressed on Thursday his intent to contend with the novel threat of the "fanatical far right" which he dubbed the "new monster", not only in Brazil but also across the world.

After defeating his right-wing rival in the elections back in October, leftist and former trade unionist Lula replaced Jair Bolsonaro and assumed office at the start of the new year.

Lula presided over Latin America's biggest economy from 2003 to 2010 and now serves his third term as President.

"We have to challenge and defeat the new monster that is the emergence of a fanatical, rabid far right that hates all of those that don't share their thoughts," Lula said in a speech at the presidential palace in Brasilia, adding that he had never seen Brazil "gripped by so much hate."

Lula explained that this was "not only a Brazilian problem," drawing parallels between Bolsonaro, former US President Donald Trump, and current Italian PM Meloni.

"Although we have defeated Bolsonaro, we must still defeat hate, lies, disinformation, fanatics, because this society needs to return to being civilized," Lula said.

On January 8, large-scale riots broke out in Brasilia where pro-Bolsonaro rioters stormed the presidential palace, congress, and the supreme court.

Since then, about 1,400 people have been detained and 2,000 have been arrested. Lula blamed Bolsonaro for the chaos in a television appearance with the Globo News network.

Lula accused Bolsonaro of knowing "what would happen, and he had a lot to do with that" given his earlier silence on the subject and his decision to fly to Miami shortly before it occurred.

"Maybe Bolsonaro hoped to return to Brazil amidst the glory of a coup d'etat."

These allegations raised by Lula are not unfounded. They are grounded in the Supreme Court's investigations on seven different probes pertaining to the January 8 riots in Brasilia, among which is one on Bolsonaro's ties.