President Lula (PT) and the governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), met for the first time in months this Friday (12), at an event to launch SBT News. But far from the warlike tone of recent speeches, the meeting of the two political opponents who could potentially face each other at the polls in 2026 was marked by cordiality, laughter, and a brief conversation about and even physical exercise.
Lula had been avoiding appearing with the governor, a first-time ally of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and who has been directly criticizing the PT member throughout this year. In September, when the event was held, it was Alckmin who represented the federal government. Last month, Tarcísio even said that he criticized the president’s management of public security and the administration of state-owned companies.
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But this Friday, Tarcísio and Lula briefly greeted each other in the studio where the new channel was launched. As the president arrived late, he spent a short time in the VIP room where the authorities and guests were, and the two did not meet at that time. In the studio, Lula arrived next to the first lady, Janja da Silva, and Tarcísio, who was sitting, stood up and greeted the PT member with a handshake. Then, the governor turned to the side and greeted the first lady
In his speech, Tarcísio said that it is necessary to “build convergence” and that the debate between different ideas must take place “in the political arena”. Lula addressed the governor when he praised the good economic indicators that the country has achieved.
At the end of the event, there was a brief conversation between Lula, Tarcísio and the mayor of the capital, Ricardo Nunes (MDB), about Enel. In his speech, since the concession of electricity distribution is a federal responsibility.
In the conversation, caught by GLOBO, Nunes presented the map of the Metropolitan Region’s power outages to show that, in the capital alone, there were still around 500,000 people without electricity on Friday night, three days after the windstorm that caused damage in São Paulo. Lula said he would talk to the Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, about the topic and that the minister would also talk to the mayor. Tarcísio said that there need to be regulatory changes in this type of concession.
Then, Lula turned to Tarcísio, hugged him and commented that he had lost weight and asked the governor “what time are you getting up to do gymnastics?” The two laughed and the governor said that around 6 am.
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The tone of cordiality between Tarcísio and the federal government was not restricted to Lula. Before the president’s arrival, Tarcísio spent several minutes talking to the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, and former player Alexandre Pato, who is married to Rebeca Abravanel, daughter of Silvio Santos, also participated in the conversation. The two talked pleasantly, in a cordial tone. One of the topics of the conversation was that Tarcísio’s father, who would also be 95 years old like Silvio Santos if he were alive, studied at the same school as the founder of SBT, Celestino da Silvano, Rio de Janeiro.
Tarcísio and Alckmin exchanged a few words alongside Ronaldo Fenômeno. Ronaldo referred to the politicians as “two stars”, to which Tarcísio replied: “You are the star”. Ronaldo was also “tipped” by Lula and STF minister Alexandre de Moraes — Moraes even took the opportunity to take a photo with Alexandre Pato, who played for his favorite team, Corinthians. To GLOBO, Alckmin stated that he had “a quick interaction” with the governor and that “everything is fine”.
In a succinct speech, Tarcísio praised the creation of a new news channel and said that journalism is necessary “at a time of fierce polarization” and called for convergence and dialogue.
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— Sometimes they hate each other simply because they think differently. Right here, in Brazil, the country of syncretism, the country of tolerance, it’s time to change that key. It’s time to turn things around. We can think differently. The debate will take place in the political arena. But we have a way to build convergence. A project for the future — he said, while Lula watched him from the audience.
Lula mentioned Tarcísio in his speech when citing the economic indicators of his administration
— Today is an important day for three reasons. The first, because I was seeing an article in the newspapers and all the negative prognoses against the Brazilian economy, announced at the beginning of January, didn’t work out, Tarcísio. Everything improved in mid-October — said the president in his speech.
