President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is scheduled to travel this week to Bahia, where he will share a platform with Senator Jaques Wagner (PT-BA). The event is scheduled for Wednesday, the 1st, exactly one week after the ally left the leadership of the government in the Senate after being the target of a Federal Police operation related to the Master case. The expectation of assistants, however, is that Lula will be left out of the traditional 2nd of July march, in Salvador, for the first time in the current term.
According to government officials, participation in the procession was advised against by the medical team due to the radiotherapy treatment to which the president is undergoing. Prolonged exposure to the sun, heat and crowds is not recommended in the current phase of treatment.
Despite his absence from the walk, Lula must continue his trip to the state and will participate, alongside Jaques Wagner, in the ceremony that will mark the beginning of work on the Salvador–Ilha de Itaparica Bridge, in Vera Cruz. Included in the New PAC, the work will be 12.4 kilometers long and is considered one of the federal government’s main infrastructure projects in Bahia.
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Before arriving in the state, Lula will make a return trip to Paraguay, on Tuesday, to participate in the 64th Mercosur Summit, in Asunción. The president is expected to announce an increase in the Brazilian contribution to the Mercosur Structural Convergence Fund (Focem), the main mechanism for financing works and projects aimed at reducing inequalities between the bloc’s countries.
In addition to Lula, the summit will bring together the presidents of Paraguay, Santiago Peña, Argentina, Javier Milei, and Uruguay, Yamandú Orsi. The meeting should also feature guests from other countries in the region, including the president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, and the leader of the Chilean right, José Antonio Kast.
Final stretch before electoral restrictions
The trip also takes place in the last week before the restrictions provided for by electoral legislation come into force. From July 4th, when there are three months left until the first round, a series of limitations will come into effect for public agents. Among them, institutional advertising by public bodies and official acts that may characterize electoral promotion with the use of the public machine are restricted.
In recent weeks, Lula has intensified his travel schedule and investment announcements in different states. Last week, he was in Mato Grosso do Sul, where he participated in the delivery of the first stage of works to expand and modernize airport terminals in the region. Planalto’s assistants believe that this is one of the last periods to expand the dissemination of government actions before the restrictions on the electoral calendar begin.
