'Brazil Needs More Democracy', Lula Replies to Bolsonaro's Son

Brazil's former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that his country needs “more democracy” in response to the statements of President Jair Bolsonaro's son, lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro, who argued that “if the Left becomes more radical,” the Brazilian government would have to implement control actions similar to those used by the dictatorship in the past.

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“What Brazil needs is more democracy and not less. The President and his sons need to respect the Brazilian people,” Lula da Silva stressed.

Besides speaking about Eduardo Bolsonaro’s unfortunate statements, the Workers' Party leader criticized his father’s economic policy.

"Bolsonaro speaks dumb to confuse, while Economy Minister Paulo Guedes sells the country."

Last week, during a television interview in which the issue of Chilean protests against neoliberalism was addressed, lawmaker Bolsonaro threatened the Brazilian left by saying that his father could establish “Institutional Law Number 5” (AI-5) in case social protests gain strength in his country.

"Maybe talking about the AI5 was unfortunate because there is no possibility of the AI-5 coming back; nevertheless, in this scenario [of demonstrations like those happening in Chile] the government has to take the reins," Eduardo Bolsonaro, who appears in the photograph wearing his personal weapons, said.

In December 1968, the military dictatorship, which ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1985, implemented the AI-5 to be able to detain people without a court order and for an indeterminate period.

Also, thanks to the AI-5, the dictatorship closed the Congress and intervened in state and municipal governments.

In this way one of the darkest periods of state terrorism in South America began. President Bolsonaro and his sons, however, have vindicated military dictatorships in Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, presenting them as necessary tools to combat the "communist threat."

In previous statements, Eduardo Bolsonaro, who is the head of Social Liberal Party parliamentary block, criticized the Brazilian left by blaming it for an endless conspiracy against his father, the far-right former captain who has ruled his country since January 1, 2019.

Due to harsh criticisms of the threat of reviving the dictatorship, an option which was described as "disgusting” even by right-wing politicians, Eduardo Bolsonaro said finally that "there is no possibility of the AI-5 coming back."