In the hope of proving his innocence | The old …

On 7 April 2018, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva landed in a helicopter at the headquarters of the Federal Police Curitiba in southern Brazil. There, where he is serving a 12-year prison sentence, he has spent the last 364 days between books, letters and the belief that he will not change "his dignity for freedom". The former president of the workers who ruled Brazil between 2003 and 2010 entered prison a year ago, after spending 48 hours surrounded by militancy in the metalworkers' union of Sao Bernardo do Campo, in the US. State. from San Pablo.

From a special 15-square-meter cell, specially tailored for him, the 73-year-old union leader saw how justice had vetoed his candidacy for the presidential election of October 2018 and later. how the far right had taken power thanks to Jair Bolsonaro, while the justice of the peace continued on his heels with a new sentence.

He also received two very painful news: at the end of January, his older brother, Genival Inácio da Silva, died of cancer and on March 1, his grandson, Arthur, only 7 years old, died as a result of a generalized infection. Despite the emotional exhaustion, Lula, whose sentences rise to 25 years in prison, keeps his head up and keeps hope to prove his innocence in order to honor the memory of his little one and his late wife Marisa Leticia, as they say about them.

The politician is mentally well, he says, and his voice, still hoarse, has improved in recent months, during which the most charismatic exmandatario of Brazil has also lost a few pounds. The mechanical extender maintains a strict routine. He wakes up at 6 am and two hours later leaves his cell for breakfast – almost always butter bread or ham. He also practices almost daily in his cell, located on the fourth floor of the headquarters of the Federal Police Curitiba, where he has a racing machine.

From the four walls of his special room, where he has the right to be president, he accompanies the political news of the country, which took a radical turn after the arrival of his rival Bolsonaro before the electoral justice that vetoed the candidacy. sentenced to a second term of 12 years and one month in prison for pbadive bribery and money laundering.

Politics, "your pbadion," usually focuses on Thursday's conversations, when, in addition to the family, you can entertain friends and allies. With them, talk about "the situation in the country, the international embarrbadment that lives in Brazil or the need to resume social protection policies for the poorest," said Emidio Souza, a friend of Lula, who returns to him visit the prison every week as a lawyer.

The federal police building inaugurated under his government in 2007 became the electoral seat of the Workers Party (PT) in 2018 and from there, Lula guided the steps of his political godson Fernando Haddad who replaced him as a candidate. a month before the elections.

To cope with the loneliness of the prison, Lula turned to reading and, during the first 57 days of imprisonment, he read 21 books. Until last week, the former union leader had one on oil, but "O Alufá Rufino" (2010), one of his favorites lately, is the one that deals with the slave trade. human beings, slavery and freedom. The Black Atlantic between 1822 and 1853. The PT's pragmatic leader also spends some of his time reading the letters he receives from his supporters, friends and fellow believers, to whom he sometimes responds with his own hand. In his cell, he also has a television, but he tunes only on open channels. Therefore, according to another of his relatives, Lula, fan of the football club Corinthians, can not accompany the championship of Europe. The TV also has a USB input and occasionally watches movies, such as "The Night of the 12 Years" (2018) – Goy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay – chronicling the captivity of Uruguayan President Jose "Pepe" Mujica – the personal friend of Lula – Mauricio Rosencof and Eleuterio Fernández Huidobro, who were members of the National Liberation Movement-Tupamaros.

The first thing he will do when he gets his freedom, says Souza, will be to kiss people waiting at the doors of the Federal Police headquarters to thank them for their resistance. "People resist to defend their freedom, which is something he is very pbadionate about," he said.

Meanwhile, army pressure on the Supreme Court would delay Lula 's possible release. He told Luiz Marinho yesterday, former minister and union leader, one of the best friends of the former president of Brazil for four decades.

"We hope that the army will not interfere in the proceedings to free Lula.In fact, the question arises what will be the role of the army in the face of the case? Lula, "said Marinho, former Labor Minister, former president of Central Unica Trabajadores and former candidate for governor of San Pablo for the Workers Party (PT). Marinho's reference to the army is based on a Twitter message "against impunity" delivered to the Supreme Court in March 2018 by Eduardo Villas Boas, then chief of the army, a few hours before the Federal Supreme Court is found to be a habeas corpus about Lula.

The habeas corpus was rejected and Villas Boas became special advisor of Bolsonaro, with an office at the palace of Plbadto.

"The army has prevented Lula's freedom with his threats and statements against the Lula trial, and we hope that this process will be reviewed and that Lula will be released," said Marinho.

A hundred cities are waiting for mobilizations this Sunday to demand the release of Lula, sentenced to 12 years and one month in prison for corruption as part of the operation Lava Jato, condemned by the former judge Sérgio Moro, current Minister of Justice of Jair Bolsonaro. and the Porto Alegre Court of Appeal.