The Brazilian club of volleyball Sada Cruzeiro suspended Olympic champion Wallace de Souza on Tuesday for calling a controversial survey on his social networks. In it, the well-known volleyball player asked which of his followers would shoot the president in the face Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The team’s board of directors “deeply” regretted the publication of the player and its content. “We are living in a delicate moment and we must be very careful with these demonstrations,” the club stated through the official Twitter account.
O Sada Cruzeiro deeply regrets the publication made by our athlete Wallace and his content. We live in a delicate moment, in which we need to be very careful with our manifestations.
— Sada Cruzeiro (@sadacruzeiro) January 31, 2023
In accordance with the agency Latin Press (PL)De Souza has more than 350,000 followers on Instagram, and is a fervent supporter of the former right-wing president Jair Bolsonarowhom Lula succeeded in power on the first day of 2023.
The player is currently 35 years old and was a member of the champion team at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, in addition to winning other titles with his country’s national team.
Among Bolsonoro’s policies with which the volleyball player sympathizes is the free possession of firearms, a situation that Lula intends to reverse during his term.
Sada Cruceiro, a cast that also includes the star Cuban volleyball player Miguel Ángel López, has not yet specified the suspension time that De Souza must serve.
“The management of the sports and social association Sada repudiates any act that could mean incitement to violence and clarifies that it does not share in any way the recent publications of the athlete Wallace de Souza on their social networks,” indicates a note released by the athletic society. .
The statement adds that the club will remain attentive to the legal proceedings of this “unfortunate episode and new measures will be studied.”
For his part, Wallace de Souza apologized for his post on social media.
“I came to apologize. It was an unfortunate post, I was wrong, ”acknowledged the outstanding player.
“I am here apologizing, because when you make a mistake there is no other way, you have to accept the mistake and apologize. I never had the intention of inciting violence, hatred, it is not part of me, ”said the athlete in a video also published on his Instagram profile.
Despite the apology, Paulo Pimenta, chief minister of the Presidency’s Special Secretariat for Communication, announced via Twitter that he had activated the Union’s Attorney General and that the government would take “all necessary measures.”
“We will not tolerate the threats made by extremists and coup plotters!” he assured.
Local media specify that what happened is classified as a crime of incitement to crime in the laws of the South American nation. For them, De Souza could go to jail and serve between three and six months, as well as face a monetary penalty.
Sada Cruzeiro is one of the most successful clubs in Brazilian volleyball. It was founded in 2006 in the city of Betim and since then it has won the Brazilian title six times, and three times it has been crowned in the Super Cup of that country.
In addition, it keeps six South American champion trophies in its cabinets and has won the World Club Championship scepter on three occasions.
