The president () criticized this Tuesday (2) the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, stating that the ally acts against Latin America.
In the city of Catalão (GO), Lula said that Rubio “is anti-Latin America, a mortal enemy of Cuba and a mortal enemy of several Latin American countries” citing the Secretary of State’s absence from the meeting he had with Trump in May.
The president also said that he has already expressed his dissatisfaction with Rubio directly to the American president: “I already told Trump that he [Rubio] doesn’t like Brazil.”
Lula’s criticisms of Rubio were made in a speech in which the president lamented the Donald Trump administration’s decision on goods imported from Brazil.
Also this Tuesday, the Secretary of State said that Brazil supports US interests in the Western Hemisphere and highlighted that the country is “in the middle of an electoral cycle”.
When describing the regional political scenario, Rubio stated that, “with the exception of Nicaragua, Cuba, obviously Venezuela, which still faces some challenges, and Brazil, although it is in the middle of an electoral cycle, and, to a certain extent, also the current government of Colombia —or at least its president, who has been problematic—, in general it is now a region full of allies of the United States, leaders friendly to the United States and a direction favorable to American interests.”
Lula, in turn, highlighted the negotiations that the Executive has had with the Donald Trump government since last year and stated that the proposal for a new tariff comes days after Senator Flávio Bolsonaro () met with Rubio.
“These sons of Bolsonaro can be worse than him. They are, in fact, sellouts of the country. They asked a foreign country to interfere in Brazilian decisions. They are traitors,” said Lula about his likely opponent in October.
Afterwards, he referred to the former president’s children as “Bolsonaro’s boys” and accused them of acting against national interests. He also said that Flávio “went to ask Trump for help” in an attempt to harm him in the elections.
“Imbecile. He doesn’t know that he won’t harm Lula, he will harm the Brazilian people, he will harm Brazilian businesspeople, he will harm agribusiness,” he stated.
This Tuesday, the senator stated that he “expressly” asked Trump not to apply a tariff on Brazilian companies.
The proposal for a new tariff comes after the Trump administration concluded the Section 301 investigation against Brazil. The investigation takes place through the USTR (Office of the US Trade Representative), which pointed out unfair trade practices in Brazil.
Now, the USTR will open a consultation for the private sector to comment on the results before preparing the definitive report, which needs to be published by July 15th. The decision on whether to apply it or not is up to Trump.
In Goiás, Lula participated in the inaugurations of the new campus of the Instituto Federal Goiano (IF Goiano) and the University Hospital of the Federal University of Catalão.
With the investment of R$ 6.5 million in resources from the Novo PAC, IF Goiano becomes its permanent headquarters in Catalão, which replaces the rented property where the institute operated. The new headquarters includes laboratories such as mineral treatment and robotics.
The University Hospital had an investment of R$ 27 million and will operate in medium and high complexity in the SUS, with the capacity to serve around 1.5 million people in the region. The health unit works to train health professionals in the areas of medicine, nursing and psychology.
