The president (PT) criticized the Brazilian elites during an event on Thursday (17) and made mentions of Brazil’s delay in access to colleges for blacks and indigenous people.
“Now, when I finish my term in 2026, we will have more federal institutes spread across this country. In just over 15 years, we will do three times more what they did in a century,” he said.
The statements were made during the 60th Conune (Congress of the National Students Union), held at UFG (Federal University of Goiás), in Goiânia. This edition had as its theme “Brazil joins sovereignty”.
The day before, five people died, including three young people who were on their way to Congress, in an accident involving a bus and a minibus that transported the students and a trailer.
The victims were students Welfesom Campos Alves, Leandro Souza Dias, and Ana Leticia de Araújo Cordeiro, the bus driver, Ademilson Militão de Oliveira, and the truck driver, Keyne Laurentino de Oliveira. The name of the three was exposed on the big screen at the beginning of the event, with honors
The two vehicles with students were part of a train that left UFPA (Federal do Pará) towards Goiânia to participate in Congress, according to PRF ().
Before the Conune event, Lula met with about five members of the Pará Student Caravan, including the brother of one of the victims. The meeting took place the closed doors to provide solidarity with the group.
On the date of the accident, Lula had already expressed solidarity with young people and their families by means of a note.
“In this moment of pain, I express solidarity with families and friends of the victims and colleagues, teachers and the entire university community affected. That families find comfort and protection to cross this difficult moment,” says the text.
Congress takes place between July 16 and 20, and is expected to receive more than 10,000 students from all over the country. The auditorium received about 3,000 people on Thursday, according to UNE.
Goiás is an electoral stronghold of Ronaldo Caiado (União Brasil), governor of the state, who did not participate in the event. Despite joining a Lula base party, Caiado is declared a supporter of Jair Bolsonaro (PL), even manifesting himself in favor of amnesty to those involved on January 8.
In the university auditorium, students were shouting against Trump and Bolsonaro, as well as praising the sovereignty of Latin America. Among them, the chorus of “without amnesty and without forgiveness, I want to see Bolsonaro in prison.”
Present were the ministers Rui Costa (Civil House), Alexandre Padilha (Health), Márcio Macêdo (General Secretariat), Camilo Santana (Education), Luciana Santos (Science and Technology) and Margareth Menezes (Culture).
Ministers reinforced the discourse in favor of tax exemption for the poor and taxation of the richest, as well as mentions to the defense of Brazilian sovereignty.
Outside the auditorium, there were punctual reports of fights among Congress participants and Bolsonaro supporters.
