Thursdays are visiting days for prisoners at the Federal Police headquarters in Curitiba, where Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is being held since April 7th, and for the second consecutive week, it was a day when Lula’s family and friends were able to visit Brazil's former president. Yesterday (10), his visitors were the president of the Lula Institute, Paulo Okamotto, and the Workers’ Party financial secretary, Emidio de Souza. After the visit, they told supporters that he is feeling confident because he knows he is innocent, but outraged at the process that is keeping him as a prisoner with no evidence.
Souza reported that Lula has not abandoned hope of running for president. “This is not a personal desire, it’s not something that he wants [for himself], but it’s about he being an innocent man who has been convicted with no evidence and knowing he has the strength Brazil needs [right now]. Although he is in this situation, he shows tremendous faith in the resistance and the possibility of changing this country, and he is grateful to his supporters.”
Okamotto was the messenger who passed on the ex-president’s message to supporters and activists. “Lula said that, once he gets out, he will hug each and every man and woman who is out here resisting.” He added that “[Lula] knows he is the one who can take this country forward and once again make this country a place where people feel like dreaming, laughing, and building a better, fairer, more equal world.”
Visitors
The ex-president’s children and granddaughter visited the Free Lula Vigil after meeting with him. They hugged, took photos with, and talked to members of the camp outside the Federal Police building, and received a quilt as a gift from local teachers. The present is embroidered with quotes and the name of each embroideress and was handed to them by educator Ana Cristina Martins de Souza.
