Lula criticizes those who ‘prefer to speak a word in English than in Portuguese’

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) resumed his sovereignty speech this Saturday by stating that “there are people (in Brazil) who prefer to speak a word in English than in Portuguese”. The statement comes two days after the federal government rebutted the United States for classifying the Red Command (CV) and Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) factions as terrorist organizations.

The president’s speech took place during his participation in the Rio2C event, in Rio de Janeiro, where he participated in the launch of the Tela Brasil platform, a free public Brazilian audiovisual streaming service. The ceremony was also marked by indirect criticism of the film “Dark Horse”, which pays homage to former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and is in the middle of the Banco Master scandal.

“(Tela Brasil) will contribute to understanding in Brazil. Because we are like this. We are used to foreign culture in Brazil. We don’t even have information about how much culture contributes to the country’s economic development. The most important thing is to know the reason and the reason that made us where we are. There are people who prefer to speak a word in English than in Portuguese. It is very important for us to know our people” said Lula, who added:

“A lot of people defend the environment, but they get on a plane and go to Miami. They don’t go to the Amazon.”

During the event, the Minister of Culture, Margareth Menezes, drew attention to the bottleneck in the distribution of national content and made veiled criticisms of the film about Bolsonaro. “It’s a first step to strengthening the sovereignty of the people through culture. We don’t need to invent a producer of lies to be what we are.”

The former president’s cinematic biography has been one of the main problems of Flávio Bolsonaro (PL), pre-candidate for president. As audio from Intercept Brasil revealed, the president’s son charged the banker millions of reais supposedly to finance the work.

Despite denying it at first, Flávio acknowledged having raised R$61 million from Vorcaro. The money went to a production company whose registration was confirmed on July 9, 2025 and is in good standing, but has never released any film, whether in the cinema, on open or closed TV.

Apparently, the company, known as Go Up, was formed to make Bolsonaro’s film. The social contract at the São Paulo Commercial Board even shows a change in the purpose and economic activities, in June 2025.

Although she denies that was the case, Go Up’s partner, Karina Ferreira da Gama, acknowledges that the money for the production of “Dark Horse” began to arrive in March 2025, coming from the fund maintained by lawyer Paulo Calixto in Texas.