This Tuesday (18), former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers’ Party) was interviewed by Flow Podcast, one of the country’s most-listened podcasts. Brazil is the world’s third-largest consumer of this kind of content format. According to Ibope (Brazilian Institute of Public Opinion and Statistics), about 40% of the Brazilian population that access the internet consumes this kind of content format, that is, approximately 50 million people.
Until then, Flow Podcast’s record simultaneous audience was 573,000 people during Jair Bolsonaro’s (Liberal Party) interview in August. This number was surpassed by large during former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s interview, which reached more than 1 million people.
In a good-natured conversation with host Igor Coelho, known as “Igor 3k”, Lula talked openly about many subjects, from the easiest ones to the most controversial issues. Bolsonaro, or “Bozo”, as Lula prefers, was one of the main subjects for a little more than an hour and a half.
“There are serious left-wing politicians, right-wing politicians, center politicians. I was watching a video in which ‘Bozo’ mentions the Venezuelan girls, and in that same video, he says ‘I have to lie, I need to do it’,” said the former president.
“I ran for the presidency against [Fernando] Collor, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, [José] Serra, and [Geraldo] Alckmin, and it was civilized. We debated about Brazil. One goes to the TV to defend his or her election platform and says ‘I would like to propose this to Brazil’. With him [Bolsonaro], it’s impossible! Impossible! He didn't have an election platform in 2018, and he doesn't have one now. He lives on lies,” he added.
Relaxed atmosphere
During all the time the podcast was being broadcasted, Lula was relaxed. Changing from discussing government proposals and interesting questions, he answered everything.
“I have zero worries about live interviews with whoever. What I'm worried about is giving a written interview to someone who hates me. Or if it’s recorded, [an interview to] a TV show, [because] I don’t know how it will be edited,” he stressed.
The former president talked, for instance, about the green and yellow striped tie he used in the debate broadcasted by the Brazilian TV channel Band last Sunday. Also, he talked about other memorable moments, such as the statement he gave to the then judge Sérgio Moro in 2017.
“That tie is a symbol for me. I got it when Brazil won the Olympics, in Copenhagen”, he said, referring to the meeting of the International Olympic Committee that chose the city of Rio de Janeiro as the host of the 2016 Olympics. “I was using that tie in Copenhagen. Pelé was using it too. It was given to us by the Olympic Committee. Every time I will meet a foreign representative, I use that tie. It represents my beloved nation,” he highlighted.
Detention
When talking about the arrest ordered by Moro, Lula was emphatic: he said that it only happened so that he would not be elected president in 2018. “I would win the elections in the first round.”
The Workers’ Party candidate said, also, that he chose to be jailed instead of flying out of the country. “I was invited to get out of the country, to go to an embassy. But since I wanted to prove Moro was a liar, I went to Curitiba [the city where Lula remained in prison for 580 days]. I wanted to prove that he was a liar”, Lula said on the decision to turn himself in. “I got out of prison stronger than when I was imprisoned. Now, I’m here, running for the presidency. I’m sure my opponents didn’t imagine I would be ahead of them.”
Talking to one of the most listened/watched podcasts in the country, which has a predominantly young audience, the former president reaffirmed his request for people to participate in the second round of the elections, to take place on October 30.
“We must call the people that didn’t vote [in the first round] to vote [in the second round]. If you don’t vote, you don’t have the right to complain. If you vote, if you trust in a candidate’s election platform and he doesn’t comply with the platform, you can curse the president when he is on the streets,” Lula said.
When he was asked about Neymar’s support to Bolsonaro, Lula guaranteed that he sees no problem.
“Neymar has the right to choose whoever he wants to be the president. I think that he is afraid that, if I’m elected, I will find out if Bolsonaro has written off his [Neymar’s] tax debt” said Lula, laughing. “But it’s Revenue Service’s problem.”
Proposals
Lula said that the poorest people will be the priority for the government if he returns to Planalto Palace on January 1, 2023.
"We took 36 million people out of misery. We ended hunger in this country, and hunger has returned. Nobody wants to be poor; nobody wants to eat badly. Nobody wants to dress badly. Everyone wants to have things. Why someone is poor? Because the person didn't have opportunities," he stated.
The Workers' Party candidate also said he intends to offer credit lines via public banks for people who wish to start a business.
"When I come back [to the presidency], we will start broad credit lines to invest in micro and small entrepreneurs. If a guy wants to set up a restaurant, a bar, a motorcycle shop, or a bike shop, he will have money to start it,” he guaranteed.
When asked about the partnership with his former political opponent, vice-presidential candidate Geraldo Alckmin (Brazilian Socialist Party), Lula repeated a phrase he has often used: "Sometimes, we need to unite with those who disagree with us in order to fight against antagonist people.”
"Alckmin is a good-natured figure, and he is doing a great job with me. I am sure that we are the ones who will rebuild this country for the Brazilian people to smile again," he stated.
Igor, Flow's host, said that he graduated thanks to ProUni, one of the programs created when Lula was Brazil's president to expand access to higher education. The former president was excited.
"I'm happy that you're a guy who graduated thanks to ProUni. ProUni was the most extraordinary thing. [Fernando] Haddad's wife, Ana Estela, thought of it as a project for São Paulo state, and we used it as a national project,” he explained. "I travel all around Brazil. I see people showing a piece of paper where we can read 'Lula, I've graduated thanks to ProUni', I'm the first graduated person in my family,” said Lula, moved.
The show host, who started the interview by saying that he is "neither a Bolsonaro supporter nor a Workers' Party supporter", regretted the end of the interview. The meeting ended lasting for about 20 minutes beyond the agreed time.
