At his meeting, yesterday, June 13, with the Socialist mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva stressed the long-standing friendship that exists between Brazil and France, where, according to Lula, Brazilians discover a “second home.”
The President recalled that France “welcomed Brazilian intellectuals, such as the writer Jorge Amado and the economist Celso Furtado, during the period of dictatorship.”
And that “it assured them the right to be citizens of the world at a time when repression and intolerance had taken over my country.”
Addressing an audience composed of French citizens and representatives of the Brazilian community in the grand hall of the Paris Prefecture, Lula observed that, for many countries, the French capital represents a “symbol of the right to think and protest.”
And he recalled that his party, the PT (Workers’ Party), was created to seek a better life for workers. “It was with this conviction that we founded the PT and fought for political democracy and social justice in my country.”
Earlier, the mayor of Paris had praised Lula for remaining true to his origins.
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