Folks,
Greetings from Rio de Janeiro, where Sunday night's debate has shaken up the race and drawn attention to Bolsonaro’s financial ties to Daniel Vorcaro, CEO of Banco Master.
$900 Needed for Filming Final Stretch
Good news: I made another $500 parental leave payment today, but my filming budget in Brasil is still lagging. I need at least $900 more to do what I need in Rio.
We filmed the other day and released a one-minute preview clip yesterday that has already garnered over 100 likes on Instagram.
Feel the energy; the people on the ground are inspiring, and we need your donations to tell this story.
Lula Opens Bank Account Records & Asks Bolsonaro to Do the Same
During Sunday’s raucous debate between Lula and Bolsonaro, hosted by Band TV, the moderators refused to fact-check the various lies Bolsonaro repeated over and over. One lie Bolsonaro keeps repeating is that Lula and his son, Lulinha, took money from Banco Master and hid it.
Yesterday, Lula announced he was opening his bank account records to the Brazilian Supreme Court, along with his wife and all their children, including Lulinha, to show the family did nothing wrong. Lula has now challenged Bolsonaro to open up his bank account records as well.
Bolsonaro was heavily implicated in the Banco Master scandal, the largest banking collapse in Brazilian history. An audio recording released by Intercept Brasil showed Bolsonaro asking Banco Master CEO Daniel Vorcaro for $20 million for a biopic about his dad; Vorcaro is in prison and awaiting trial for running the bank like a Ponzi scheme.
Last week, the Brazilian federal police accused Flavio Bolsonaro of being the “master user” of a private bank account Vorcaro set up in the Cayman Islands.
Activists are now taking to the streets and social media with signs calling on Flavio Bolsonaro to open his bank account records. Lula is even holding signs in his rallies calling for it.
“The only thing I am asking is that he [Flávio Bolsonaro] have the courage to prove that he is honest,” Lula said, announcing his decision to open his bank account records publicly. “I am going to hand mine over with the expectation that he hands over his, and I want the justice system to investigate and then make the findings public, so that the Brazilian people may know who is a thief and whose money is not in this country.”
For more, check out Agencia Brasil.
5 Million Strong “Lula’s Army” Group
Over the past few weeks, Lula has increased his standing on social media, largely thanks to the 5 million-strong “Lula’s Army” WhatsApp group.
The day after the election, the group had only 72,000 members, but it quickly grew to 5 million in less than 2 weeks. The success was largely due to the inspirational, fiery leadership of Brazilian Congressman André Janones.
Janones often yelled on the app that Brazilians needed to do things to show the growing size of their movement and keep spirits up. He told Brazilians to upload their entire contact lists and encouraged people to post certain messages en masse to beat the social media algorithms holding things back.
On Friday, he instructed his followers to bang pans around the country during a primetime interview Bolsonaro gave on Globo. Pan-banging was heard all over Brasil on Friday night.
On Saturday, he instructed his followers to wear Brazilian soccer jerseys all over Brasil to show their support for Lula. Previously, Bolsonaro supporters had started wearing the soccer jersey, but Jamones successfully instructed people to reclaim it. Millions of Lula supporters posted photos of themselves wearing Brazilian soccer jerseys and making the “L for Lula.”
But after Sunday's debate, his followers heard nothing. On Monday afternoon, it was revealed that the 42-year-old Jamones had been hospitalized with heart irregularities. He plans to be released today at 13:13 (13 is Lula's electoral number) and to announce marching orders for Lula’s Army directly from the hospital.
“Today at 13:13 I will be discharged from the hospital. As I leave, I’ll take the opportunity to chat with you in person and share some guidance and direction regarding the next steps for the final battle that lies ahead,” said André Janones. “Anyone who is able to attend is welcome. It will take place at 1:13 PM at Vila Nova Star Hospital.”
Lula Asks Brazilian Supreme Court to Throw Out Election over Meta Interference
Late last week, the Brazilian Supreme Court ruled that Meta must stop using algorithms that promote Flavio Bolsonaro while referring people to derogatory comments about Lula. So far, Meta has refused to comply with the court order, even after the Brazilian Supreme Court doubled fines to nearly $198,000 a day.
Now, the Lula Administration is asking the Brazilian Supreme Court to consider throwing out the election if Meta does not comply, arguing that interference from a foreign company is illegal.
“The alignment of the big tech companies with Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign was already clear when they took an active role in the Liberal Party’s communication forums. What we are seeing is not only an attempt to interfere in favor of one campaign, it is a direct attack on one of the largest democracies in the world,” said lawyer Luiz Eduardo Peccini, who filed the complaint on behalf of Lula.
Yesterday, hundreds of Brazilians protested outside Meta headquarters, signaling they would likely do more against the tech giant if Bolsonaro won the election amid such massive Meta interference. If Bolsonaro wins, these protests could grow, perhaps even into strikes.
For more, check out Brasil 24/7
Alright folks, that’s all for now. Please donate if you can to help us finish these videos.
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