Rio de Janeiro – Despite various speculations regarding the future of president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who will inaugurate Dilma Roussef on January 1st, Lula said, at a press conference to foreign correspondents this Friday (3rd), in Rio de Janeiro, that he has no plans for next year yet. On the occasion, Lula gave an emotional speech about his leaving the office and said that, because he was once a blue-collar worker and union leader, he had to prove each day that he could be the president.
"If you belong in the country’s elite and you are a head of state, no one cares whether you make mistakes or not. You spend six months at a Harvard facility, you go to Sorbonne. No one holds anything against you. After a few months, you come back and run for presidency again. However, because I used to work in a factory, because I was a union leader and have become the president, I had to prove each day that I would be able to run this country," said Lula.
Lula stated that when he would go to bed at night, by Marisa (first lady Marisa Letícia), he would say: "If we make a mistake, a working man will never again be allowed to be the president of this country." He also said intelligence has nothing to do with the number of years spent in school, because managing a country is not taught in school. "I have managed to prove that Brazilians, each and every one of them, can do what I have done for this country," stated the president. Lula claimed, however, that he needs to let time pass in order to give a more distanced assessment of his administration.
Although he has no plans, Lula stated that he will go back to being a member of his party and that he will work to implement political reforms in the country. "I am going to work for the political reform, because now I am no longer the president, I am just a member of my party. Political reform is not up to the president to do, it is up to politicians," said Lula.
Regarding his leaving the office, the president also stated that he will hand Dilma a country that is running at a 120 miles per hour. "She is not going to get a car that is parked in the garage, damaged. If she wants to, she may squeeze it a bit, accelerate, she just cannot skid off the lane," said the president.
As he had already been telling the press over the last few days, Lula claimed that he will need some time to "disincarnate" from the presidency of Brazil. "We are passing on a Brazil that is solid," he said of his administration, adding that within six years Brazil may be the world’s fifth leading economy. Lula underscored the importance that the country has gained over the last few years and asserted that Brazil is now responsible for the building of three of the world’s largest hydroelectric plants, three of the largest railways and four of the largest refineries.
He also said that he was surprised with the lack of economy-related questions at the press conference. "In the past, most questions concerned the economy. Now that our economy is doing fine, no one asks questions," he joked. Once the interview ended, many of the foreign journalists revealed themselves as fans of Lula’s. The line for taking pictures with the president looked like the waiting line for asking questions. The interview was attended by the governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Sérgio Cabral, and the chief minister of the Social Communications Secretariat of the Presidency, Franklin Martins.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
