Bolsonarists Threaten a Black Actor Who Took a Selfie With Lula

On Thursday, the Workers' Party candidate Lula da Silva visited the Complexo do Alemao, a Rio de Janeiro shantytown where he posed for photos with his supporters, among whom was Diego Raymond, an actor known as "Mister M" who got involved in illicit activities in his youth.

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Through social networks, President Jair Bolsonaro's supporters began to spread hate messages against Raymond and to threaten him in various ways.

In reaction to this harassment, the O Globo TV star recalled that he was acquitted of his crimes, fully rehabilitated, and managed to earn a decent living by fighting against the discrimination that the Brazilian elites exercise against Black people and the poor.

"I will vote for Lula and against these despicable people who criminalize poverty," Raymond said, adding that his vote for the Workers' Party candidate will be so that "we can walk down the street with our heads held high, knowing that the poor and Blacks will be treated as equals and that children's stories will be different in the shantytowns of Rio de Janeiro."

The tweet reads, "Lula, the candidate who according to Bolsonaro cannot take to the streets, is in Salvador tonight."

On Thursday, Lula visited the city of Aracaju in the state of Sergipe, where he promised to fight the hunger that affects 33 million Brazilians through job creation. He will implement policies to create jobs "immediately", among which are actions to convert the naval and oil industries into the country's great job generators.

Currently, the unemployment rate in Brazil reaches 8.9 percent, which means that almost 10 million people have no sources of income to survive in an economy shattered by the neoliberal policies implemented by the far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who aspires to reelection.

The situation is even more complex if one considers that about 40 percent of the Brazilian labor force is made up of informal workers, most of whom live in precarious conditions.