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Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's Caravan of Hope — a 20-day bus tour through Brazil's northeast heartland to nine states and dozens of speeches, radio interviews and public events — comes to an end late Tuesday.
The last leg of the journey involves a public event alongside Flavio Dino, the governor of Maranhao state and member of the Communist Party of Brazil. He welcomed Lula to the Palace of Lions, the official governor's residence, Monday.
Lula said that he embarked on the caravan to “talk to the people," even as he awaits an appeal of judge Sergio Moro's decision to sentence him to nine years and six months over corruption allegations in the Operation Car Wash investigations. The ruling will decide whether Lula, who leads all polls, will be allowed to run for president in 2018.
During the caravan, he defended the Workers Party's 14 years in office, its advancements in hunger-reduction, housing and education to name a few, and criticized previous right-wing governments whose achievements over the past 500 years pale in comparison.
Lula was condemned by Moro for passive corruption crimes and money laundering. However, prison time was not applied as the prosecution awaitsthe ruling on the appeal.
His legal defense argued that "No credible evidence of guilt has been produced, and overwhelming proof of his innocence blatantly ignored. This politically motivated judgment attacks Brazil’s rule of law, democracy and Lula’s basic human rights."
Harshly criticizing Moro's decision to convict Lula, Paulo Pimenta, congressperson for the Worker's Party, emphatically stated that next year's presidential election “will not be tolerated, nor permitted” without Lula as a candidate.
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