MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) – Speaking in an interview with TeleSUR TV, the former president said that he would run for president "just to prevent social achievements from being destroyed in Brazil." He also criticized the appointment of Michel Temer as Brazil’s interim president and claimed that "Dilma [Rousseff] is only suspended on a political whim."
According to Lula, the governments of the Workers’ Party, of which both Lula and Rousseff are members, has managed to get 30 million people out of poverty in the last 12 years.
Lula da Silva has described the impeachment trial of his successor Rousseff as abuse of democracy. Rousseff has called the impeachment process "a coup."
Rousseff has been suspended from office for 180 days, pending trial. Michel Temer, who had been Brazil's vice president since 2011, is assuming presidency during that period.
Rousseff has been facing a wave of public discontent for over a year amid the country’s struggling economy and a major corruption scandal in the state-controlled Petrobras oil company.
Temer is reportedly being accused of crimes similar to those cited as the reason behind Rousseff's impeachment process.
