President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) has accumulated, in just over two and a half years in office, several controversial statements that have generated negative repercussions for the government and Brazil.
Such speeches range from insensitive comments about tragedies and social issues to astonishing statements about international conflicts, which the president himself, at times, justified as “misplaced” shortly after the repercussion, as on this Friday (24).
SEE ALSO:
We’ve gathered some of his worst moments as a speaker, starting with the most recent. The following is a list of controversial statements:
1) “Users are responsible for traffickers, who are victims of users too”
We open with the president’s statement this Friday, in Jakarta, during his trip to Indonesia. The president reversed the logic of who is a victim and who is a perpetrator in the relationship between users and traffickers, but said shortly after the repercussion that the phrase was “misplaced”.
2) “What monster will come out of this girl’s womb?”
The president used the phrase in an interview on CBN radio, on June 18, 2024, when commenting on the bill that proposes to equate abortion performed after 22 weeks of pregnancy with the crime of homicide. The statement questioned the obligation of a raped girl to have a child, being seen by critics as dehumanization.
3) “What is happening in the Gaza Strip does not exist at any other historical moment, in fact, it existed when Hitler decided to kill the Jews”
It was a statement made by Lula in February 2024, during a discussion about international conflicts. The speech was criticized internationally, generated an immediate response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and led to Lula being declared persona non grata in Israel, straining the relationship between the two countries.
4) “I’m not going to show up with crutches and a walker”
On the eve of a hip operation, the president stated during his weekly live broadcast that he would not be seen using crutches or a walker, insinuating that this could harm his image. The speech was accused of ableism, being seen as an attempt to avoid association with the image of fragility and reinforcing negative stigmas surrounding the use of mobility devices.
5) “If the guy is a Corinthians fan, that’s fine”
On July 16, 2024, during a meeting at Palácio do Planalto, Lula lamented research that indicated an increase in violence against women after football games, but mentioned that “if the guy is a Corinthians fan, that’s fine.” A few days later, the president tried to correct himself, saying that “a man with faith in God does not hit a woman”, but the gaffe had already occurred before an announcement related to the food industry sector.
6) “When are you going to close the gate?”
Still demonstrating insensitivity towards issues related to women, during the delivery of apartments for the Minha Casa Minha Vida program in Maceió, Lula questioned a mother of five about when she would “close the door”, suggesting that she should stop having children.
7) “Screw Imbalance”
In a speech made after an attack on a daycare center in Blumenau (SC), Lula stated that around 15% of the population could have “screw imbalance problems”, linking intellectual disability to violence, which generated requests for a retraction from disability rights activists.
8) “Central Bank: the only thing that doesn’t fit in Brazil”
During an interview with CBN radio, on June 18, 2024, Lula criticized the Central Bank’s interest policy, calling it “the only thing that is out of adjustment” in the country. The statements generated concern in the financial market and were used by opponents to question the government’s stability.
9) Venezuela is the victim of a narrative of anti-democracy and authoritarianism”
In a press conference alongside Maduro, in May 2023, Lula defended the dictator and criticized the negative international perception of his regime. Defending a regime widely criticized for its human rights violations has raised concerns about Brazilian foreign policy and its alignment with authoritarian regimes.
10) “Whoever wants to defeat Maduro, defeat him in the next elections”
In a phrase that has aged poorly, Lula said, in June 2023 in an interview with Rádio Gaúcha, that “Whoever wants to defeat Maduro, defeat him in the next elections and take power. Let’s go and monitor it. If there is no honest election, we’ll talk.”
11) “7-1 was the punishment for Lava Jato”
When speaking during the inauguration of the new president of Petrobras, on June 26, Lula suggested that Brazil deserved the 7-1 defeat against Germany in the World Cup because of the anti-corruption movement that emerged with Operation Lava Jato.
“Do you remember when we started to hold the World Cup, the number of allegations of corruption in the stadiums? And a lot of people invented it – from the right: everything has to be FIFA standard, because Brazil has to provide FIFA standard healthcare, Brazil has to provide I don’t know what FIFA standard. In an attempt to demoralize the World Cup. And, God is fair, we took 7-1 in that World Cup, from Germany. Since it’s to punish, let’s go punish.”
12) “Artists, cinema and soap operas are not meant to teach people…”
When speaking at an event in honor of Brazilian Cinema Day, in Rio de Janeiro, Lula said that he is “from the group” that thinks that “artists, cinema and soap operas are not for teaching p..aria, they are for teaching culture, telling history”.
“It’s to tell narratives and it’s not to say that we want to teach children the wrong things. We just want to do what is called art. Anyone who doesn’t want to understand what art is, damn them”, added the president when defending his government’s measures aimed at Culture.
