Curitiba,Parana, Brazil – 4/28/2018 – 8 PM
1. The fascist gunfire attack against the activists in the Marisa Leticia camp during the early morning did not affect the enthusiasm of the thousands of people camped in Curitiba who are participating in the #LulaLivre Vigil in defense of ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the fight for his release. The “Good Evening” yell to Lula at the end of the afternoon, led by Senator Lindbergh Farias (PT-Rio de Janeiro) and by PT Paraná State President Doctor Rosinha, was also made in homage to the two victims of the attack. Lindbergh asked for the Federal Police to investigate the case and reminded them that the 9mm shells that were found at the crime scene are the same caliber of the gun that was used to execute City Councilwoman Marielle Franco, over a month ago in Rio de Janeiro.
2. During a meeting this afternoon with managers from the State Public Security Secretariat and the Paraná Penitentiary Administration (Sesp), leaders connected to the #LulaLivre camp demanded reinforced policing of the location and agility in the investigation. The group also asked for ample security during the May Day activities. May 1 will be an event which will unify seven Brazilian labor union federations and several popular social movements in the Parana State capital of Curitiba, and bus convoys are already arriving from all over Brazil and neighboring countries for it.
3. The moment is of union and not fear. This is the opinion of Dalva da Silva, 52, who arrived at the Lula Livre camp on Friday. Still shocked, but determined to resist, Dalva said that, “despite the tense mood after the horror scene early this morning, it is important to resist and lend our hands.” The images of people fleeing, the fireworks lit off by the comrades working in security in the camp to alert everybody about what was happening and the hysterical screams of the fascists who yelled the name of Jair Bolsonaro as they attacked the Marisa Leticia camp are still etched in her mind.
4. After the gunfire attack against the camp, congressmen and senators from PT, political leaders from other parties including pre-candidates for the presidency and the social movements, publicly condemned the the fascist act and denounced that hate speech is materializing in a manner that is dangerous for Brazilian democracy. PT National President, Senator Gleisi Hoffmann (Parana) recorded a video this morning in which she said that, “intolerance will bring us to a regrettable situation. It is violence against the social movements, and is a violence that has been happening in politics. I want to make it clear that it is the result of this constructed process of persecution against President Lula, against the PT and against the leftist social movements. Operation Car Wash and Judge Sergio Moro have an objective responsibility for this, along with the big media companies, principally Rede Globo.”
5. Gleisi Hoffmann participated in a meeting with political leaders in Chile this Saturday. There, she denounced the media and judicial persecution against Lula, the deepening of fascism and the process of hatred towards the left in Brazil. She said that if Lula runs, he will win the elections, this is why all of the judicial and media mobilization is happening against him and his condemnation without proof has turned him into a political prisoner. Gleisi reaffirmed that Lula’s imprisonment is illegal and unconstitutional as much because his appeal process hasn’t finished as for the failures in the entire process.
6. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel condemned the gunfire attack against the Marisa Leticia camp. He said that the attack was made by “people who hate democracy and are afraid to lose their privileges and fired at defenseless people in the night.” Esquivel was in a meeting in the Mercosur Parliament (Parlasul) on Friday and participated in the protest in defense of ex-President Lula, who is being held as a political prisoner in Curitiba.
Bulletin 53 – People’s Committee for the Defense of Lula and Democracy
Curitiba – 4/28/2018 – 8 PM
