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Newly Freed Lula Sets Up Clash WithBolsonaro'sRight Wing in Brazil

Reuters

   BRASILIA - Former Brazilian leaderLuizInacio Lula da Silva on Saturday
   attacked right-wing PresidentJairBolsonarofor impoverishing working
   Brazilians and vowed tounite the left to win the 2022 elections in a
   speech one dayafter being freed from jail.

   Lula's wide-ranging, 45-minute speech to cheering supportersfocused
   broadly on defeatingBolsonaroand improving theeconomic conditions of
   the working class.

   Lula, who was president from 2003 to 2010, also took aim ata long list
   of political enemies, includingBolsonaro, EconomyMinister Paulo Guedes
   and Justice Minister Sergio Moro, a formerjudge who initially ruled to
   convict Lula.

   "I want to tell them, I'm back," the 74-year-old toldhundreds of
   supporters dressed in red, the color of his WorkersParty, outside
   themetalworkersunion where he got hispolitical start.

   He said Guedes seeks to remake Brazil economically in theimage of
   Chile, long seen as a model of financially conservativegovernance, but
   that those policies are the reason for thewidespread street protests
   paralyzing its Latin Americanneighbor.

   Court ruling

   A judge ordered that Lula be freed on Friday, a day afterBrazil's
   Supreme Court issued a broader ruling ending themandatory imprisonment
   of convicted criminals after they losetheir first appeal. Lula had been
   imprisoned on a corruptionconviction carrying a nearly nine-year
   sentence.

   Bolsonarotold reporters in Brasilia, "Let's not give spaceto compromise
   with a convict."

   Earlier on Twitter, the president called for supporters torally around
   his government's agenda, which has included asevere tightening of
   public spending, saying that they must notallow Brazil's next phase of
   recovery to be derailed.

   "Do not give ammunition to the scoundrel, who is momentarilyfree but
   full of guilt,"Bolsonarosaid.

   WhileBolsonarodid not mention Lula by name, his left-wingrival took
   direct aim at the president.

   "If we work hard, in 2022 the so-called left thatBolsonarois so afraid
   of will defeat the ultra-right," he said.

   Ineligible to run

   Lula, who left the presidency with sky-high approvalratings, is
   ineligible to stand for office until 2025 underBrazil's "Clean Record"
   law because of a conviction for takingbribes. But his release is
   expected to energize the left aheadof next year's municipal elections.

   He was imprisoned in 2018 after being found guilty ofreceiving bribes
   from construction companies in return forpublic contracts.

   Lula has maintained his innocence. On Saturday he repeatedthat Justice
   Minister Moro, prosecutors and police were lyingabout his guilt for
   political reasons.

   "[I'm] not responding to criminals, jailed or freed. Somepeople deserve
   to be ignored," Moro responded on Twitter.

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