“We want to formally raise that negotiations (between the European Union and Mercosur around a Free Trade Agreement) be suspended so as to not legitimize the current government of Brazil, a country that is experiencing a state of exception and a new stage of the coup d´Etat perpetrated in 2016”. With these words, Fernando Gambera, of the Central Union Coordination of MERCOSUR reinforced before the European Economic and Social Committee, in Brussels, that the union movement rejects said free-trade agreement. Read more

“The fact that Lula can´t obtain justice shows that nobody who is poor or belongs to popular classes in Brazil can obtain justice. This is blatant. There are women losing their children because they file complaints against their husbands in police stations”, said the leader of the World March of Women in Rio Grande do Sul State, Maria do Carmo Vittencourt. Read more

“We are creating candidacy defense committees for (former) president Lula throughout Brazil. We already have over 4000 committees”, said the head of the Central Workers Union of Brazil (CUT), Regina Cruz, in an interview with Real World Radio. The former president, member of the Workers Party (PT) and former steelworker leader in the 70s, “is the candidate of the social movements of the country” for October national elections, stated Cruz. Read more

Last week, Porto Alegre, Brazil was the center of mobilizations in that country in defense of democracy and the right of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to run as candidate in October national elections. See gallery

26 young activists from several Brazilian social movements and two journalists were arrested on Wednesday night in Porto Alegre, Brazil, while they were demonstrating hours after former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva faced trial in that city. Read more

“These times are key to establish that the judicial branch cannot tell us who the presidential candidate can be or not", said Marília Gonçalves, leader of the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) of Brazil, present in Porto Alegre. "We won´t accept this, by no means" will we allow the legal system to sweep away the rights achieved with democracy, said the leader. Read more

Approximately 70,000 people demonstrated on Tuesday in Porto Alegre in defense of democracy and in support to former president Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, who will face a trial on Wednesday at the 4th Regional Federal Tribunal (TRF 4), in the framework of the Lava Jato operation. Read more