What to take from Lula’s first interview behind bars

On Friday afternoon, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva gave his first press interview since being jailed in April of last year for corruption and money laundering. The existence of the interview itself was the cause of much controversy, involving the Supreme Court and allegations of censorship and restricting press freedoms.

Brazil’s biggest newspaper, Folha de S. Paulo, requested an interview with Lula in prison last year, during the presidential election campaign. However, Supreme Court Justice Luiz Fux ruled against the interview taking place, a decision which was only overturned last month.

Lula spoke to Mônica Bergamo, of Folha, and Florestan Fernandes Jr., of El País, for over two hours. The full interview can be watched at this link. Below, we have analyzed some of the main topics addressed by the ex-president.

Lula v. the Government

While declaring the country to be run by “a bunch of crazy people”—a comment which made its way into headlines all over the world—Lula was less directly critical of President Jair Bolsonaro as one might expect, with the majority of the criticism and fury directed towards the president’s sons and cabinet ministers.

About Jair Bolsonaro himself, there was less scolding and more analysis and advice. “Either [Mr. Bolsonaro] builds a solid political party or the way things are won’t last for long,” he pondered. “He needs to have negotiation ability, desire,...