Without mentioning by name, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has referred to businessman Ricardo Magro, owner of Refit, in interviews and speeches in recent months when discussing actions to combat organized crime in the country. In December, Lula said he had spoken with the President of the United States, Donald Trump, about “one of the great bosses of organized crime” in Brazil and who lives in Miami.
— I called Trump telling him that if he wants to confront organized crime, we are available. And I sent him the proposal on the same day of what we wanted to do. I even told him that one of the big bosses of Brazilian organized crime, who is the biggest debtor in this country, who is an importer of fossil fuel, lives in Miami. So, if you want to help, let’s help by arresting this guy right away,” said the Brazilian president.
In February, during a trip to India, Lula returned to the topic and, without mentioning the name of Magro and the company, recalled the operation, in September of last year, which banned the refinery’s operations.
— We blocked 250 million liters of gasoline on five ships, delivered it to Petrobras. This person lives in Miami, we sent President Trump a photograph of his house, his name. And we want this person in Brazil. Is it to combat organized crime? So hand over our bandits to us,” he said.
In an interview after his meeting with Trump last week, the Brazilian president reported that he had asked for help with the arrest and deportation of Brazilian criminals in Miami.
