Arrested and tortured, Lula’s brother endorses the president’s stance on 64

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s decision to veto official government acts and demonstrations to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the military coup has support at home, in his family. His brother José Ferreira da Silva, who was arrested and tortured during the dictatorship, endorses the stance of the head of the Executive and, even though he was the target of the regime’s violations, understands the PT member’s stance.

For Frei Chico, as he is known — even though he is not a religious person —, the measure adopted by Lula aims to “preserve the government” and does not mean that the president is “radicalizing”. He assured that he did not discuss the matter with his brother.

“I think Lula is right in prohibiting these acts, so that they don’t happen on the initiative of his team. I don’t understand what the reason was, but I think he acted correctly, within the possibility of preserving the government. It was with that in mind”, argued Frei Chico, when Correio Braziliense.

He understands that Lula, even without speaking out, supports the events that are scheduled by entities. “Lula’s message is that he will not lead this agenda, but that he is free to do so. Let others deal with it, as we are seeing with civil society and other actors. He is giving this strength to the entities, that’s how I see it. Of course he can’t say that openly,” he said.

Lula’s brother was arrested in the mid-1970s by repression agents. He says he was detained for two to three months, and treats his arrest as a “kidnapping”.

In opposition to the regime, he worked in the clandestine Brazilian Communist Party (PCB), the “Partidade”. He was, until then, the most politicized of the brothers. It was Frei Chico who took Lula, in 1969, to the leadership of the metalworkers union. “It was a fight. He didn’t want to,” he reported.

Frei Chico is granted political amnesty and receives a monthly payment for having been persecuted at that time. The arrest removed him from the vice-presidency of the Metalworkers Union of São Caetano do Sul (SP).

Lula was also arrested during the dictatorship, for a few days, and is also amnestied. He receives a pension of around R$10,000 for this pursuit.

But the president is not fond of the topic of dictatorship. Never was. The statement that 1964 should be forgotten and that he does not intend to “remember” what happened in the leaden years is not surprising. In 2010, for example, he sided with his then Minister of Defense, Nelson Jobim, who, on behalf of the military, was unhappy to see the Secretary of Human Rights, Paulo Vannuchi, include in his plan the understanding that the Human Rights Law Amnesty does not prohibit punishment of torturers. Lula argued that this matter is a matter for Justice, not the government.

As Frei Chico recalled, the military regime acted strongly in persecuting opponents and imposed its presence in power through violence. He said that Lula is, yes, in favor of punishing those who committed these crimes.

“The point is that a lot of time has passed and a lot of people have already died, unlike what happened on January 8, 2023. They are all there and being punished. And Lula wants punishment for everyone”, he highlighted.

He has his opinions about the government. He thinks it is a mistake, for example, that the president chose to take Flávio Dino to the Federal Supreme Court (STF), removing him from the Ministry of Justice. He understands that Dino is a strong name in the political confrontation with the Bolsonarists.

“Dino had to remain in government, in the ministry. It’s a great framework to face and overthrow these opponents, like these Bolsonaro people. It was a mistake”, he maintained.