House Committee approves motion of repudiation of Lula’s statement about drug traffickers

The Public Security and Combating Organized Crime Committee approved a motion of repudiation to a statement made by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) during a press conference in Indonesia last week. On that occasion, the president stated that drug traffickers are ‘victims of users’ while discussing the fight against trafficking. ‘Every time we talk about combating drugs, it would possibly be easier to combat our addicts internally. Users are responsible for traffickers, who are also victims of users. You have an exchange of people selling because there are people buying,’ said the president on October 24. Federal Deputy Capitão Alden (PL-BA), the author of the motion of repudiation, claims that the Chief Executive made ‘disrespectful and mistaken statements on an international level, downplaying the seriousness of organized crime and relativizing the role of traffickers in perpetuating violence.’ According to Capitão Alden, Lula ‘downplayed the seriousness of drug trafficking’ and ‘such statements undermine the efforts of public security forces, disrespect the victims of organized crime, and delegitimize police action.’ Hours after the statement, the Brazilian president posted a retrial on social media, stating that he had made a ‘poorly phrased sentence.’ ‘I want to say that my position against traffickers and organized crime is very clear. More important than words are the actions my government is taking, such as the largest anti-organized crime operation in history, the submission to Congress of the Public Security Amendment, and the records in drug seizures in the country. We will continue to stand firm in the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime,’ wrote Lula on X date.