Black First Land First (BLF) is on record for denouncing the conviction and imprisonment of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in January last year on a false charge of corruption – for which he has been serving a 12-year prison sentence. Last month he was sentenced to a further 12 years and 11 months upon conviction of another bogus case of corruption and money laundering. It must be remembered that Lula’s right to a fair trail was denied in all the cases he has been convicted of.
The imperialist sponsored persecution of Lula carried out by the Brazilian judiciary and mainstream media killed any chance of a revolutionary project winning the 2018 presidential elections. The judiciary has ensured that the right wing agenda of imperialism wins; the reactionary Jair Bolsonaro is elected; the continuation of Brazil’s neoliberal anti people economic policies is secured; and the judiciary’s capture by imperialism in cohorts with the conservative right wing forces in Brazil is intact.
BLF notes that both Lula and Dilma Rousseff were excluded from power by counter revolutionary forces because of their pro-poor and pro-BRICS policies. We call on the Brazilian people to never forget the historical legacies of the PT governments of Lula and Rousseff. The institutional destruction of neoliberalism depends on the actioning of this memory.
BLF stands with the Brazilian people. Jair Bolsonaro must go! Lula must immediately be released from prison unconditionally! Real democracy must be returned to Brazil without delay!
Issued by the National Coordinating Committee of Black First Land First (BLF NCC)
11 February 2019
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International Relations Secretary: Shantha Balakrishna
Cell number: +27 72 114 3670
Deputy President: Zanele Lwana
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