The president of the Workers’ Party (PT), Gleisi Hoffmann, made public on her social networks a death threat from neo-Nazi groups against Lula Da Silvatop candidate for the October presidential elections, and against another PT deputy and a councilor, who is investigating fascist groups. “The PT will take measures to guarantee that criminals are identified and punished,” Hoffmann assured in his networks.
The threats against Lula are not the first in a climate of campaign crossed by fascist messages encouraged since the arrival of the far-right Jair Bolsonaro to the presidency. A year ago, the PT had already denounced another threat made by São Paulo businessman José Sabatini, who posted a video in which he was shooting at a target with the face of the former president.
In his message, Hoffmann also expressed solidarity with the national deputy and secretary of Political Formation of the PT, María do Rosario; and the councilor for Porto Alegre Leonel Radde, who also received threats. “They will not intimidate or silence us! Thank you for your solidarity, comrade. The hatred that the fascist government promoted in Brazil will not win,” Do Rosario, a former human rights minister during Dilma Rousseff’s presidency, wrote.
The current national deputy trusted that “hatred is succumbing and the darkness is near its end”, in reference to Bolsonaro’s mandate, and announced that she filed the complaint for threats before the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Police for investigation. . Weeks ago, the deputy for São Paulo of the Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL) Issa Penna was also threatened by fascist groups.
Both Hoffmann and Do Rosario sent their regards to Councilman Leonel Radde, for being the one who denounced the threats made by neo-Nazi groups against him and the deputy and Lula. According to Radde, the threatening messages indicated that he would be assassinated on October 31, one day after the date on which the second round of elections is scheduled.
Radde explained that they received threatening messages on WhatsApp and Telegram and detailed their content: “Among the messages, GIFs and an extremely violent video were sent, in which a black woman is hanged and murdered by a group of white supremacists, probably in the United States. Joined”.
“Much more than text messages, the video was an explicit threat. Measures have already been taken. We warn Nazi-fascists again: We will not be silenced!”, Sentenced the councilman, who has been in charge of investigating neo-Nazi groups in Rio Grande do Sul.