Lula da Silva cancels visit to three Brazilian states due to security concerns

In an unusual situation for a head of state. Lula da Silva, who had been touring various regions of Brazil opening works and bolstering the candidacies of allies running for office in the October local elections, canceled his visit to three states where most voters are followers of former President Jair Bolsonaro and returned unexpectedly on Tuesday evening from Salvador, the capital of Bahia, where he had participated in several ceremonies, to Brasilia. The presidential office has not confirmed, but sources in Brasilia said that Lulawho was going through a phase of criticism and low popularity, was afraid of becoming the target of military action, and his own safety was concerned that he would become the victim of some kind of attack.

Lula is scheduled to take place this Wednesday, July 3, in Rondonopolis, the second city in the state of Mato Grosso, where he will make the official announcement of the largest ever financing for agriculture. The state of Mato Grosso is the cradle of Brazilian agribusiness, the sector of economic activity most hostile to Lulaand in 2022, in the then presidential elections, Jair Bolsonaro won a resounding victory in the region.

Thursday, July 4th, Lula he planned to travel to Goiânia, the capital of the state of Goiás, another representative of agribusiness, where he would open a new federal educational institute. A ceremony that was eagerly awaited by several candidates associated with Lulawas cancelled at the last minute to avoid risks to the president.

The third state where the presidential visit was cancelled is Santa Catarina, Brazil’s most right-wing state, where Lula was set to begin work on the important port of Itajaí next Saturday. It turns out that it was on that day that former President Jair Bolsonaro, Argentine President Javier Miley, who called on social media on Tuesday Lula The idiot dinosaur and other prominent figures on South America’s far right are holding an international ultra-conservative summit in the nearby city of Balneario Camboriu.

Evaluation conducted Lula and his security team, and the reason for canceling the visit was that the risk of right-wing extremist incidents was very high. Especially since to get to Balneario Camboriu, you will have to disembark at Navegantes International Airport, which is located in Itajaí, where the Brazilian president will be.

The cancellation of visits to three countries in the country caused surprise and great embarrassment, as it showed that the once fearless Lula Today, at 78, da Silva is more afraid than ever. And, on the other hand, this reveals the incomprehensible inability of the presidential security, made up of members of the Armed Forces, agents of the Federal Police and the GSI, the Directorate of Institutional Security, to guarantee the safety of the head of state in certain parts of the national territory.