By Irene Galindo.
Global Exchange / Periodistas Unidos / Peninsula 360 / Rompeviento TV
São Paulo. September 27, 2022 - Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met today with representatives of Brazil's sports segment, such as athletes, former athletes, cheerleaders, journalists and managers. At the meeting held in Ibirapuera, São Paulo, he reiterated that sports should be a tool to improve people's lives and unite Brazil and regretted that nowadays sports are forgotten and times are more violent than before.
"In my soccer days, we used to go out in Vila Carioca to play at Parque Sao Jorge Corinthians all together, Corinthians, São Paulo, Saints, all together. We played, we joked, we made fun of each other and there was no fighting," said Lula. "Today people are afraid of wearing their team's jersey and being attacked, and that is motivated by hatred and fascism," he added.
The former president also regretted that today a pregnant woman was attacked for campaigning for the PT in São Gonçalo, Rio de Janeiro. "A bolsonarista attacked that woman with blows, because bolsonarismo represents a part of society that we thought did not exist," he said.
Lula recalled that in previous years it was possible to campaign without fear of being attacked because the violence was only verbal.
"Now we have a president who is not distributing books for schools, but he is selling weapons, he is releasing the sale of weapons. And the release of weapons is not for poor people because the one who is buying weapons is drug trafficking, it is organized crime," he commented.
Violence against Lula's supporters has been recurrent in recent weeks. On Monday, a person was murdered in a bar for expressing that he would vote for Lula da Silva. Brazilian police are also investigating a second murder in Rio do Sul, in the pro-Lula state of Santa Catarina.
Also, police said on Saturday that a Bolsonaro supporter beat a woman in the city of Angra dos Reis, near Rio de Janeiro, for criticizing the president.
Lula da Silva called on those attending the meeting to help rebuild peace through sports. "We need you, who understand sports, to help build a good sports policy for this country, from infancy to the elderly. To make sport part of our daily lives. If you contribute, we will succeed," he concluded.
This article was produced with the support of the organization Global Exchange in collaboration with TV Windbreaker, Journalists United and Peninsula 360 Press.
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