Brazil: Dilma Visits Spain, US to Denounce Persecution of Lula

Former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff will embark on a tour to Europe and the United State to “denounce the (judicial and media) persecution against (her predecessor) Luiz Inacio 'Lula' da Silva.”

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In an official statement Rousseff noted that Lula is a “political prisoner, victim of relentless persecution by his adversaries who unleashed a campaign of 'lawfare' to silence and destroy him.” She affirmed that this is being done to “disqualify his role before history and the Brazilian people.”

The former head of state and first female president of Brazil is scheduled to attend a conference at the Casa de America in Madrid, Spain on April 10 and is scheduled to speak at the Lawyers College in Barcelona two days later.

Rousseff will then proceed to the U.S. state of California where she will speak at the University of California at Berkeley on April 16, Stanford University on April 17 and San Diego State University on April 18, according to the Diario de Pernambuco.

Last week, while accompanying Lula as he remained at the ABC Steelworkers Union headquarters in San Bernardo do Campo in Sao Paulo after having an arrest warrant issued for him by judge Sergio Moro, Rousseff announced that she would contest October's general elections as a senatorial candidate in the state of Minas Gerais.

Rousseff was impeached by a congressional vote on Aug. 31, 2016. Her “crime,” the so-called “pedaladas,” was based on manipulating public finances to conceal a budget deficit, using the funds, instead, for a program dedicated to agricultural needs of small family farmers.

Supporters and even some critics of her presidency contested that the measure was not illegal since it had been used by previous administrations without any repercussions.

Recalling the misogynistic fervor accompanying what she's vehemently referred to as the 2016 “coup,” Rousseff tweeted, “I was considered 'obsessive-compulsive' with work,' while men are regarded as dynamic and hard-workers...Dilma is a harsh woman, and men are firm; Dilma is emotionally unstable, men are sensible.”