Rio de Janeiro
‘Free Lula’: Brazil’s top musical acts—including Chico Buarque and Gilberto Gil—called for former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to be freed from prison, at a huge outdoor concert attended by 80,000 people in Rio last week. The popular leftist was convicted on dubious evidence last year of accepting a seaside apartment as a bribe from a construction company, and his supporters say the 12-year prison sentence was politically motivated. Even though the conviction will likely bar Lula from running in the October presidential election, polls consistently show him to be the race’s front-runner by a wide margin. A group of activists from various leftist groups began a hunger strike this week to demand Lula’s release.