Speaking to foreign journalists in Sao Paulo, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva paid tribute to the two men, who were killed in June while documenting the historic assault on indigenous lands by Brazil’s current leader, Jair Bolsonaro. “They were victims of a massacre, a barbarism, the kind of which should no longer happen in Brazil,” said the veteran leftist, who polls suggest will win a third term in office when 156 million Brazilians choose their next president in October. Lula also pledged to crack down on the thousands of illegal gold prospectors who have flooded into indigenous areas since Bolsonaro became president and whose illegal activities Phillips has covered extensively. “We will completely put an end to all kinds of illegal mining. This cannot be done simply through a law – it has to be almost a profession of faith,” said Lula, pledging to make the global climate crisis an “absolute priority” if elected. “If we are very careful, we will be able to avoid a repeat of what happened to Dom and Bruno,” Lula told scores of international correspondents who had gathered to hear him speak at a Sao Paulo hotel. “We don’t have to cut down a single tree to plant soybeans. We don’t need to cut down one more tree to plant corn. We don’t have to cut down a single tree to plant sugar cane or raise cattle,” Lula said. In recent weeks there have been growing fears that Bolsonaro, a radical far-right former army chief who openly celebrates Brazil’s 1964-1985 military dictatorship, may refuse to accept defeat. Earlier this month, more than a million citizens from across the political spectrum signed a high-profile manifesto warning that the country’s young democracy faces a moment of “tremendous peril”. Unfortunately, Bolsonaro urged hardliners to take to the streets “for the last time” on September 7, Brazil’s independence day. However, Lula played down fears that Brazil could suffer a democratic “rupture” and said it was unthinkable that citizens would accept to see their hard-won democracy discarded. He predicted that Bolsonaro would have no choice but to effectively accept defeat, as his US ally Donald Trump was forced to do after losing to Joe Biden. “He’s a poorly made copy of Trump,” Lula said of his right-wing rival. “Trump also tried to avoid accepting the result. They tried to storm the Capitol. But he had to back down and I’m sure that here in Brazil the election result will be accepted without any kind of questioning.” Lula also downplayed concerns for his own safety after reports he had started wearing a bulletproof vest at rallies following a series of violent incidents. Before Lula’s arrival at Monday’s news conference, a federal police agent could be seen checking metal trash cans for hidden explosive devices. “I don’t have time to think about this. I’m so obsessed with winning this election so I can try to fix this county … that I’m not worried about anything else,” Lula told reporters. “Of course I take every necessary precaution, but I don’t feel that dread that some people seem to think.”
