Lula says Bolsonaro is a ‘coward’ who sits at home and cries nearly a month after losing presidential election

Brazilian President Lula da Silva this Monday called his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro a “coward” who, after losing the 2022 presidential elections, stayed home and cried for almost a month and then fled to the United States, where the former president traveled around the country. the day before the end of the term for fear of being arrested. Lula launched a decisive attack at the start of a Council of Ministers meeting he convened to show the country his government’s achievements and try to reverse a strong trend of declining popularity, as shown by two polls published last week.

“The coup did not happen not only because some people who led the Armed Forces did not want to do it and did not accept the idea of ​​the former president, but also because the former president is a “coward.” “I didn’t have the courage to carry out my plan, I stayed at home, here in the palace, cried for almost a month, and then chose to flee to the United States rather than do what I promised,” Lula said in his address to the ministers and the country, as the beginning of the meeting was broadcast live broadcast on major television news channels.

For the first time since the allegations brought against the former president by military commanders were made public, Lula da Silva addressed the topic of the coup d’état that Jair Bolsonaro allegedly planned in 2022 to remain in power with the support of the Armed Forces. Forces after losing his bid for re-election in the presidential election that year. In statements released by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) last Friday, former army commanders General Freire Gomez and air force Brigadier Batista Junior confirmed that Bolsonaro pressured them to carry out a coup. which, according to the version given by them in the investigation, did not happen only because both refused to participate in the assassination attempt, supported only by the then commander of the Navy, Admiral Almir Garnier.

Lula’s attack on Jair Bolsonaro this Monday was heavily criticized by the press shortly after it was launched, since it was launched at the wrong time and will certainly steal the protagonist and space in the news, which should be occupied by measures and actions. actually successfully implemented. government. Lula’s tactics, however, are the same: he is banking on the polarization between him and Bolsonaro, using the old “us versus them” strategy, seeking to win the votes of people who are not his voters but hate Bolsonaro, and to help government allies in municipal elections next October. .