BRASILIA: Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the frontrunner to win an upcoming election, said yesterday that politicians should be prepared to face a climate of violence, a day after a failed assassination attempt targeted Argentina’s vice-president.
“I think that all of us who are politicians have to be aware of the violence provoked by those who do not know how to live democratically,” he said during a news conference before a rally in the northeast of the country.
Argentine vice-president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner escaped unharmed after a 35-year-old man of Brazilian origin fired a loaded gun just inches from her head that failed to go off.
The attempted assassination has forced Brazil’s main presidential candidates to reevaluate their security arrangements ahead of the Oct 2 vote.