President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva stated, in an interview with the Globonews news channel, that there was a failure by the government’s intelligence services that did not warn about the coup acts in Brasília on January 8th. 
“Here we have intelligence from the Army, we have intelligence from the GSI [Gabinete de Seguraça Institucional]we have intelligence from the Navy, we have intelligence from the Air Force, that is, the truth is that none of these intelligences served to warn the President of the Republic that this could have happened”, he said. The exclusive interview, the first of its kind since Lula took office his third term, was published this Wednesday (18).
“If I had known, on Friday (6), that 8,000 people would come here, I would not have left Brasília. “, he added.
coup attempt
The president also recalled the moments of tension with the invasion of the Planalto Palace, the headquarters of the National Congress and the Federal Supreme Court (STF). He said that he had the impression that there was an effective attempt at a coup d’état in the country. On the day, he was in Araraquara (SP) and watched the events unfold in the city of São Paulo. For the president, there was connivance of people from the Armed Forces in the action of the vandals.
“I was getting irritated because it was not possible how easily people invaded the Palace of the President of the Republic, and, in fact, they didn’t break to enter, they entered because the door was open, someone from inside the Palace opened the door for them, it could only have been, there was connivance from someone who was inside”, he said.
democratic union
The failure of the coup attempt, for Lula, occurred because there was a strong Democratic reaction. “They noticed that there was a reaction, immediately I am grateful to the governors who came to Brasilia to show solidarity, we immediately joined and we realized that we had to work together, Legislative, Executive and Judiciary. And we, then, got together to guarantee Brazilian democracy”.
Lula said that all people involved in coup acts will be investigated. He asked for punishment for those who participate in criminal actions. “These people have to be condemned, otherwise we cannot guarantee the existence and survival of democracy”, he assured.
The president also accused the Public Security of Brasilia, especially the Military Police of the Federal District, for what he called “negligence” in guaranteeing the protection of the buildings of the Republic.
military commanders
During the interview, Lula confirmed that he will have a meeting on Friday (20) with the commanders of the three forces: Army, Air Force and Navy, at the Planalto Palace. The main item on the agenda is the modernization and purchase of equipment for the military. The president also said that he will talk to commanders to depoliticize the environment in the Armed Forces.
“Commanders need to assume the responsibility of saying: the soldier, the colonel, the sergeant, the lieutenant, the general, he has the right to vote, he has the right to choose whoever he wants to vote for. Now, as he is a career position, he defends the Brazilian State, he is not Lula’s army, it is not Bolsonaro’s, it was not Collor’s, it was not Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s, the Supreme Court is not Lula’s, you know? These institutions that guarantee this country doesn’t need to have a party and they don’t need to have a candidate. They have to defend the Brazilian state and defend the Constitution”, he said.
Trips
Lula confirmed that he will travel to the United States, at the invitation of President Joe Biden, on February 18. Before that, he will go to Argentina and Uruguay next week. In March, he leaves for China. Furthermore, the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will visit Brazil on January 30th.
“I’m going to take Brazil out of isolation and I’m going to make this country once again respected in the world and an international player”.
Reforms
In the economic area, the president once again defended a regulation that guarantees social security to app workers and non-formalized entrepreneurs. According to Lula, it is not a return to the past, but a new relationship between capital and work.
“For that, we are going to create a commission with union members, with businessmen and with the government to see if we create a union structure in which people feel represented and we can guarantee that people have rights. That is, because this worker who works in an application, he thinks he is a micro-entrepreneur, he is not a micro-entrepreneur, because he does not have any social security program. It is the Brazilian State who has to guarantee this”
On tax reform, Lula defended a change in the Income Tax rule to exempt lower and middle-income people from paying this tax, which should be more progressive than the current model. “I don’t know if you know that 60% of people who pay income tax earn R$6,000 a month. These people are considered rich,” she said. “We are going to try to put into practice in the tax reform proposal, that up to R$ 5,000 a person does not pay Income Tax. You know? It is not possible that we do not do it”.
