The head of the Brazilian Government’s Institutional Security Cabinet, Army Reserve General Augusto Heleno Ribeiro, has referred to the country’s new president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as a «drunkard» who «unfortunately» is not ill, following rumors that he is not.
«That business about Lula being sick, he is not, unfortunately,» Ribeiro told a group of supporters of the outgoing president, Jair Bolsonaro, as he left the Alvorada Palace on Sunday.
«We’re going to keep pushing to have a better future because from the hand of that drunkard we’re not going to have it,» Ribeiro blurted out as he compadiated with Bolsonaro’s supporters, who asked him for messages and photographs. «A hug for those who voted the right way,» he added.
In recent days rumors have circulated that Lula had fallen ill. The flamboyant winner of the elections a week ago was diagnosed in 2011 with cancer of the larynx, from which he recovered a year later. Since then, the only convalescences reported were two coronavirus infections and a brief hoarseness during the election campaign.
