Afraid of Booing, Brazilian Presidential Candidates Avoid Speeches on May 1

05/02/2018 - 12h04

"Afraid of booing", according to politician Paulinho da Força, almost ten presidential candidates did not take up the invitation from the trade union center Força Sindical on May 1st in São Paulo, except for three of them, who displayed pessimism when speaking of the country.

Manuela D'Ávila (PCdoB) asked the labor reform to be revoked, claiming it "denies workers their rights".

Regarding the collapse of a building due to a fire in São Paulo, Paulo Rabello de Castro (PSC) said "it was the Republic of Brazil which collapsed upon Brazilian workers".

There are 13.7 million Brazilians who are unemployed and "whoever wants to rule the country has a moral obligation to generate employment," said Aldo Rebelo (SD) in his speech.

Governor Márcio França (PSB) and the speaker of the lower house of congress, Rodrigo Maia (DEM-RJ), also a presidential candidate, did not attend.

França claimed he was absent due to the building's collapse downtown. The mayor of São Paulo, Bruno Covas (PSDB), attended the event, but did not make a speech.

In 2017, the then mayor João Doria (PSDB), who is now running for governor, was heavily criticized for defending the labor reform. "Everybody's trying to escape the booing," said Paulinho da Força.

Translated by ANA BEATRIZ DEMARIA

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