He President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silvacalled this Sunday, on the first Christmas message since his return to power to “restore peace” in the face of the “hatred” of the coup plotters who divided the country and tried to overthrow him almost a year ago.
From that sad January 8th, democracy emerged victorious and strengthened. “We were able to restore the stained glass windows in record time, but we must restore peace and unity between friends and family,” the progressive leader said during his speech, which was broadcast on television, radio and social networks.
The president was alluding to the attack in Brasilia, when thousands of supporters of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro invaded and destroyed the presidential, congressional and Supreme Court headquarters, with the aim of encouraging military intervention to kill him to fall a week later after taking it.
He explained that this episode was fueled by the “hatred of some” for the rule of law, left “deep scars,” “divided the country,” “separated families,” and “endangered democracy.”
“Fortunately, the coup attempt had the opposite effect: it united all institutions, mobilized political parties across all ideologies and triggered a prompt reaction from society,” said the head of state, who appeared wearing a red tie.
To date, the Supreme Court has convicted about twenty of the nearly 2,000 people accused of the coup attempt, 66 of whom are still in prison, between those convicted and those in preventive detention, while the rest are following the trial in freedom.
In this sense, Lula encouraged Brazilians to “fight fake news, misinformation and hate speech.”
“Brazil had a real government again”
In another veiled criticism of the previous government, the leader of the Workers' Party (PT) assured that Brazil had “a real government again” since coming to power.
In this context, he reviewed the initiatives launched by his board in 2023, including the revival of several social programs that he had already promoted during his first two terms in office between 2003 and 2010.
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He also emphasized the approval of a deep tax reform, which he called a “historic fact,” and expressed optimism for the Brazilian economy next year.
2023 was time to plant and rebuild. We plow the land, we sow, we water every day, we care deeply about Brazil and its people. “We are creating all the conditions for a generous harvest in 2024,” he emphasized.
The financial market expects Brazil End 2023 with growth close to 3%, in line with executive and central bank forecasts and in any case exceeding estimates at the beginning of the year, which were just under 0.6%.
In addition, inflation has moderated and is currently at 4.68% year-on-year, within the target ceiling for this year (4.75%), while unemployment is slightly below 8%.
However, the public deficit has risen to almost 8% gross domestic productwhile debt is close to 75% of GDP, according to official figures.
In addition, a slowdown is expected for 2024, when the country is expected to grow by 1.5%, according to market forecasts.
With this in mind, Lula assured that next year they will “work hard to exceed all expectations once again.”
With information from EFE