Leftist leader Lula rallies supporters

BRAZIL’S left-wing leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva returned to his trade union stronghold on Saturday, delivering a fiery speech to throngs of celebrating supporters a day after walking free from jail.

Reveling in the adoration of his followers at the metalworkers’ union he once led, Lula attacked his arch-nemesis President Jair Bolsonaro, who hours earlier had called him a “scoundrel,” and those who jailed him last year for corruption.

“He (Bolsonaro) was elected to govern for the Brazilian people and not to govern for the militias in Rio de Janeiro,” said Lula, his face flushed as he ranted for nearly an hour in the heat.

Lula was mobbed when he arrived at the union in Sao Bernardo do Campo, near Brazil’s biggest city of Sao Paulo, as people jostled to hug and shake hands with the former shoeshine boy who rose to become one of Brazil’s most popular presidents.