Leaders and intellectuals gathered in Mexico condemn the persecution of Lula and set up a committee for the defence of democracy

Gathered in Puebla, Mexico, progressive leaders and intellectuals of Latin America launched, last Sunday (July 14th) a joint declaration about the necessity of responding to the mounting lawfare as a tool of political persecution in the continent.

According to the document, “the legal war that was unchained in the last years against progressive leaders of Latin America is an unprecedented and aggressive way of replacing military weapons by the manipulation of legal resources”.

The document identifies the prison of ex-presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as the most emblematic case of the breach of the rule of law.

“Judges and prosecutors of his case, in collusion worth punishment (as it is demonstrated in recent revelations of conversations at the website The Intercept), have systematically violated legal safeguards of the ex-president to due process with presumption of innocence, the principle of natural judge, the right of defense, the contradictory and the possibility of defending himself in freedom”, says the statement.

Statement proceeds: “The conditions of isolation in which Lula finds himself at this moment are unjustified given the dignity and respect deserved by someone who defeated poverty in his country, led the economy down the path of competition and placed Brazil at the highest strategic position in regional and global contexts”.

The statement is signed by 25 leaders and intellectuals of Latin America, from countries such as Mexico, Chili, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay. Brazil was represented by the ex-ministers Fernando Haddad and Aloizio Mercadante.

Read here the complete statement.

Diário do Centro do Mundo | Translated by Maurício Pupo, Rede Democrática Brasil – Montreal. Revision: Marc Cabioch