Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Friday 6 april 2018
Arrest warrant issued for former Brazilian president 'Lula'

By PETER PRENGAMAN and Still, the list of targets in the
MAURICIO SAVARESE scandal include people
Associated Press across the spectrum, in-
SAO PAULO (AP) — A Bra- cluding President Michel
zilian judge issued an ar- Temer. Temer took power
rest warrant on Thursday for in 2016 after da Silva's suc-
former President Luiz Inacio cessor and protege, Dilma
Lula da Silva, dealing a ma- Rousseff, was impeached
jor blow to the once wildly and ousted from office.
popular leader who was Last year, Temer was twice
trying to mount a political charged with corruption
comeback ahead of Oc- but remained in office be-
tober's elections. cause in both cases Con-
The warrant came several gress, which must vote on
hours after the country's criminal cases involving a
top body, the Supreme sitting president, decided
Federal Tribunal, voted 6-5 to spare him prosecution.
to deny a request by da Many members of Con-
Silva to stay out of prison gress have been charged
while he appealed a cor- with corruption or are be-
ruption conviction that he ing investigated.
contends was simply a way Da Silva was convicted
to keep him off the ballot. in July of helping a con-
Federal judge Sergio Moro struction company get
gave Brazil's former presi- sweetheart contracts in
dent 24 hours to present exchange for the prom-
himself to police in the ise of the apartment. He
southern city of Curitiba. In denies any wrongdoing
a statement, Moro said he in that case or in several
was giving da Silva the op- other corruption cases that
portunity to come in of his have yet to be tried. An
own accord because he appeals court upheld the
had been president of the conviction in January, and
nation. the three reviewing magis-
Last year, Moro convicted Worker's Party President and Brazilian Sen. Gleisi Hoffmann, speaks with journalists after meeting trates even lengthened the
with former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the Lula Institute in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Thursday,
da Silva of trading favors April 5, 2018. sentence to 12 years and
with a construction com- Associated Press one month.
pany in exchange for the Technically, the Supreme
promise of a beachfront people get along?" saying they were filing in- "It was applied to only one Federal Tribunal's deci-
apartment. That conviction Da Silva's upcoming arrest junctions in hopes of keep- person," she said. "As if Lula sion doesn't keep da Silva
was upheld by an appeals will mark a colossal fall from ing him out of prison. were the only thief in this off the ballot. In August,
court in January. grace for the man who led "We consider this to be country." the country's top electoral
The speed with which Moro Latin America's most popu- a political imprisonment, Da Silva is the latest of court makes final decisions
issued the warrant surprised lous nation between 2003 an imprisonment that will many high-profile people about candidacies. It was
many, as legal observers and 2010, and left office expose Brazil before the to be ensnared in possi- expected to deny da Sil-
said there were technicali- with approval ratings over world," said Gleisi Hoff- bly the largest corruption va's candidacy under Bra-
ties from da Silva's upheld 80 percent. mann, chairwoman of the scandal in Latin American zil's "clean slate" law, which
appeal that would not be Former U.S. President Workers' Party. "We will be- history. Over the last four disqualifies people who
sorted out until next week. Barack Obama once come a banana republic." years, Brazilians have expe- have had criminal convic-
Such technicalities "were called da Silva the "most Hoffmann also insisted that rienced near weekly police tions upheld. However, da
simply a pathology that popular politician on Earth." da Silva, 72, would be the operations and arrests of Silva could appeal such a
should be eliminated from Since leaving office, things party's candidate in Octo- elite, from top politicians decision, though doing so
the judicial world," Moro have steadily gotten worse ber. The ex-president has to businessmen like former from jail would be more
said in his statement. for da Silva, who has been not spoken since the ruling. Odebrecht CEO Marcelo complicated.
Minutes after Moro's issue charged in several corrup- Like so much in a nation Odebrecht. Sen. Lindbergh Farias from
the warrant, a fight broke tion cases. He has always that has become deeply Investigators uncovered the Workers' Party said vig-
out in front of the Lula Insti- maintained his innocence polarized, the reality that a major scheme in which ils would be organized na-
tute in Sao Paulo between while continuing to cam- the once popular leader construction companies tionwide beginning on Fri-
hecklers and supporters of paign across the country would be jailed was being essentially formed a cartel day.
the former president univer- the past year. interpreted differently by that doled out inflated con- "People want to be close
sally known here as "Lula." Despite his legal troubles, supporters and detractors. tracts from state oil compa- to President Lula after this
One heckler was punched he still leads preference "Brazil scored a goal against ny Petrobras, paying billions injustice," he said.
in the face and subse- polls to return to office — if impunity and corruption," in kickbacks to politicians Whether the Workers' Par-
quently got hit by a passing by some chance he is al- said Congressman Jair Bol- and businessmen. ty will be able to mobilize
vehicle as he was falling. lowed to run. sonaro, a right-leaning for- Moro, who oversees cases major demonstrations re-
He was taken to nearby Earlier Thursday, the head mer army captain who is in the so-Called "Opera- mains to be seen. During
hospital and police arrived. of Brazil's Workers' Party second in the polls after da tion Car Wash," is hailed as the impeachment trials
"I've never seen this kind of warned that jailing da Silva Silva. a hero by many Brazilians. against Rousseff in 2016,
hatred before," said Mari- would turn Latin America's Mariana Setra, a da Silva Others, particularly on the many demonstrations were
ella Sanches, who was sell- largest nation into a "ba- supporter in Sao Paulo, left, see him as a partisan small despite calls by ma-
ing ice-cream where the nana republic." His lawyers called the top court's deci- hit man out to get da Silva jor unions to take to the
fight broke out. "Why can't put out several statements sion "ridiculous." and the Workers' Party. streets.q