March 17th, 2016
New York Times
Tempers Flare in Brazil Over Intercepts of Calls by Ex-President ‘Lula’
By SIMON ROMEROMARCH 17, 2016
RIO DE JANEIRO — “In Brazil, a poor man goes to jail when he steals,” a fiery left-wing congressman named Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said in 1988. “When a rich man steals, he becomes a minister.”
Those words are coming back to haunt him now.
On Thursday, Mr. da Silva, the former president facing investigations into his accumulation of wealth since leaving office, was sworn in as exactly that: a cabinet minister.
With prosecutors seeking his arrest, Mr. da Silva was sworn in as chief of staff to his protégé and successor, President Dilma Rousseff. The post may give him broad legal protections, but immediately set off a national firestorm.
A judge in the capital, Brasília, issued an injunction against the move, arguing that Ms. Rousseff may have violated the law in appointing Mr. da Silva. Protesters rallied outside the ceremony and on the streets of São Paulo as police officers tried to prevent clashes
And the old quote by Mr. da Silva — made long ago to denounce the legal protections enjoyed by senior officials ensnared in graft scandals — circulated widely in Brazil, illustrating the former president’s evolution from a union leader who crusaded against corruption to the target of multiple investigations.
Mr. da Silva, 70, also found himself at the center of an uproar over the release of intercepts of telephone conversations in which he discusses ways to attack the officials investigating his dealings and says, “Why can’t we intimidate them?”