Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called this Thursday "psychopath" the current head of state of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, whom he compared to the late Jim Jones, founder and leader of a sect in the US, for insisting on his denial policy in the face of the seriousness of the pandemic.
"Bolsonaro continues to treat covid with neglect. Only a psychopath like Jim Jones would be able to repeat Bolsonaro’s follies in the face of the pandemic", affirmed in a message on his Twitter account the leftist leader, whom all the polls point to as the favorite to win the presidential elections next October.
American pastor Jim Jones was the founder and leader of the People’s Temple sect and the inducer of the collective suicide of 917 of his followers in 1978 in Guyana.
Lula launched the harsh attack on his possible rival in the presidential elections after Bolsonaro, leader of the Brazilian far-right denier and one of the most skeptical rulers about the seriousness of the pandemic, insisted on downplaying the health crisis.
In an interview he gave to a local media outlet on Wednesday, the president said he did not understand "that huge concern" with covid, which has already killed more than 620,000 Brazilians, and stated that the omicron variant is "welcome" to Brazil.
The president, who has censored the use of a mask and social distancing measures and questions the effectiveness of vaccines since the beginning of the health crisis, echoed studies that he did not specify that indicate that the omicron "is welcome" because "may signal the end of the pandemic".
Despite the fact that neither Bolsonaro nor Lula have confirmed their candidacies, their dispute for the Presidency is given as a fact and has Brazil totally polarized politically.
According to all the polls, Lula is the favorite to win the elections because he has close to 48% of the intention to vote, practically double that of Bolsonaro (23%).
In a statement with a clear electoral tone on Wednesday at a public ceremony, Bolsonaro affirmed that the possible victory of the former president in the presidential elections would mean "lead the criminal back to the crime scene".
The president constantly recalls the corruption trials for which Lula was convicted, which kept him in jail for 580 days and prevented him from running for the presidency in 2018.
The socialist leader is qualified to contest the October presidential elections because the Supreme Court last year annulled the convictions against him due to a conflict of judicial powers and ordered that his processes be restarted by a new judge in Brasilia.
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