Brazil tense over prison for da Silva

RIO DE JANEIRO — Tensions continued to rise Wednesday in Brazil as the likelihood grew that leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva would be imprisoned, especially after the army commander appeared to tweet support for da Silva’s incarceration.

Authorities in several cities braced for demonstrations for and against the ex-president, who leads in presidential election polls.

The country’s top court began reviewing a petition by da Silva to stay out of prison while he continues to appeal a conviction for corruption. The decision could radically alter October’s presidential election and affect stability in Latin America’s largest nation.

Gen. Eduardo Villas Boas posted two tweets Tuesday night that many interpreted as a form of pressure on the 11 justices on the Supreme Federal Tribunal and a veiled threat of intervention. Such concerns are taken seriously in a country that experienced a 1964-85 military dictatorship.

“In Brazil’s current situation, it’s worth asking our institutions and the people who is really thinking about what is best for the country and future generations, and who is only worried about their personal interests?” he wrote in one tweet.

In a second tweet, Boas wrote that he shared people’s

anxiousness and “repudiated impunity.”

O Globo, one of the country’s leading dailies, criticized the comments, saying in a Wednesday editorial that a military chief should “not be opining over judicial and political questions.”

In a statement to O Globo, Gen. Joaquim Silva e Luna, the defense minister, said Boas’ intention was to assure people that force would not be used.

Da Silva, who was once popular after his two terms as president from 2003-10, has become a polarizing figure amid a corruption scandal that has roiled Brazil the past several years and made average citizens furious with the political class.

Da Silva was convicted last year of helping a construction company get sweetheart contracts in exchange for the promise of a beachfront apartment. The conviction was handed down by Judge Sergio Moro, who is presiding over cases involving the socalled Car Wash investigation.

Moro is hailed as a hero by many while detractors consider him a partisan hit man.

Da Silva has maintained his innocence, saying this case as well as several other corruption charges that have yet to be tried are attempts to keep him off the presidential ballot. Despite the legal troubles that have angered some Brazilians, da Silva leads preference polls to return to office.