Ayuso humiliated Lula before his visit to Spain: “He should advise Sánchez on how to live in prison”

The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, launched a harsh criticism against the Brazilian dictator Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for his trip to Spain to support the socialist Pedro Sánchez in the electoral campaign and took the opportunity to remind everyone of the 580 days that the leader of the Workers' Party (PT) spent in prison for corruption charges, during an intervention before young members of the Popular Party (PP).

During a meeting held on Friday, November 13, the Madrid leader questioned the intention of Spanish socialism to present Lula's recent electoral victory in Brazil as an example of political recovery. Ayuso argued that now the socialists talk about the Brazilian president “to sell us that supposed comeback” and launched a strong irony: “But I believe he is only here to give advice on how to live in prison”.

The statement was directed against Lula's planned participation in the PSOE campaign, which seeks to secure Sánchez's reelection in the general elections on November 29. The Brazilian dictator was scheduled to meet with his Spanish ally on Monday, November 16, at the Palace of La Moncloa and subsequently participate in an electoral event to publicly support his candidacy.

However, the PSOE announced on Saturday that the campaign event was canceled due to a "hoarseness" of the Brazilian president, although it confirmed that the institutional meeting between the two leaders remains. Lula's presence was part of the socialist efforts to strengthen Sánchez's candidacy, in an electoral scenario where the Spanish right led by the PP and Vox aims to displace him from the Government.

Lula's judicial past constitutes one of the most controversial episodes in Brazilian politics. The communist received convictions for passive corruption and money laundering during the investigations of Operation Lava Jato and remained imprisoned between April 2018 and November 2019. He regained his freedom after the Supreme Federal Court modified the criterion that allowed sentences to be executed before exhausting judicial resources.

Ayuso's criticisms recall the statements made by Argentine President Javier Milei in August during an interview with Luis Majul on LN+, when he questioned the Brazilian leader about his judicial background. “He is a thief, he is corrupt. He was convicted. He was imprisoned, so it is true what they say about him being a convict. He was released due to an administrative error, not because he is innocent”, stated the Argentine head of state at that time, in another episode of political confrontation with Lula and his ideological space.