Lula’s ‘retraction’ to the speech about Moro came with PF operation against PCC, says Padilha – 03/23/2023 – Politics

The Minister of Institutional Relations, Alexandre Padilha, said this Thursday (23) that the Federal Police operation to dismantle a PCC plan to attack authorities is the “greatest retraction” to the speech of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) , that he wanted to take revenge on Senator and former judge Sergio Moro (União Brasil-PR).

Padilha was asked by journalists whether President Lula should and intended to recant his speech, when he recalled that he told prosecutors, during the time he was imprisoned, that he intended to “fuck that Moro”.

“I think the biggest retraction that was made was the action of the Federal Police that protects the lives of all authorities, not only the former judge, the senator, but all authorities that may be threatened. It is yet another demonstration of action firm action by the federal government, firm action by the Federal Police, a republican action by the Federal Police that protects and will save, protect the lives of all those who are threatened,” said Padilha.

“Any citizen threatened by criminal organizations will have the federal government on their side, regardless of the irregularities that these people may have committed, the irregularities with justice, the injustices that they may have committed in the past, it will always have the republican stance and the firm decision of president Lula to guarantee the protection of these authorities”, completed

Padilha’s statement was given on leaving a meeting with Minister Fernando Haddad, in which they discussed taking part in the head of the economic team at a meeting of the Economic and Social Development Council.

Padilha was referring to the Federal Police operation launched on Wednesday (22), carrying out a series of steps to dismantle a plan by the PCC criminal faction that intended to carry out attacks against authorities. One of the targets was former Lava Jato judge and current senator Sergio Moro.

24 search and seizure warrants, 7 preventive arrest warrants and 4 temporary arrest warrants were carried out in Mato Grosso do Sul, Rondônia, São Paulo and Paraná. At least nine were arrested, six men and three women, all in São Paulo. Two of the suspects remain at large.

The attacks against Moro and other authorities, according to the investigation, would take place simultaneously, and the main targets were in São Paulo and Paraná. In São Paulo, the target was prosecutor Lincoln Gakiya, who has been involved in investigations into the PCC’s activities for years.

The operation took place one day after Lula had attacked Moro, during an interview with the Brasil 247 portal. Operation Lava Jato.

“From time to time a prosecutor would go there, [na carceragem da PF, em Curitiba] Saturday, weekday, to ask if everything was okay. Three or four attorneys would come in and ask: ‘Is everything okay?’ ‘[Eu respondia:] It is not alright. It’s only going to be okay when I fuck this Moro. You cut out the word ‘fuck’,” said the president during the interview.

Lula was arrested in 2018 and spent 580 days in the PF jail in Curitiba.

Padilha also commented on the criticism made against him by the leader of the PDT in the Senate and the base of the government in the House, Senator Cid Gomes (CE). The parliamentarian criticized the government’s alliance with the central political bloc, articulated by the Minister of Institutional Relations.

“I think he (Padilha) is leading President Lula to a tragedy. If his defense is that Centrão returns to command the government, as he commanded in the mandates of (Jair) Bolsonaro and Michel Temer, he will take Lula to the hole”, said Cid Gomes in an interview with the newspaper O Globo.

Padilha avoided entering into direct polemics with Cid Gomes, nor did he refute the criticism of the government’s approach to the centrão. The minister only ironically stated that he used to leave his “liver in the fridge” when he left for work.

“Politics, the position I assume, is not for liver function, it is for brain function. We do it with the brain and with the heart. When President Lula invited me to take over the Ministry of Institutional Relations, which I was very proud of I assume this ministry once again, I left my liver in the fridge”, said Padilha.