Everyone is asked to stand respectfully during the playing of the national anthem. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] Moving on here at this moment, I want to tell you that homeless women represent 80% of the MTST. They are evangelical Christians, single mothers, the ones who carry the weight of the world, and they are in leadership positions, holding microphones, leading assemblies, organizing events, and making the struggle happen in everyday life. They are the stronghold of the MTST. That's why we have our national coordinator of the MTST, Ana Paula Perles, with us. Come here, Ana. MCD. [shout][cry] MTSD, [shout] MTST. Good morning, comrades. Good morning, comrades. I want to thank everyone who is here today, my comrades in the struggle, in the activism, all the activists who have been here since yesterday building this event, on behalf of Patrícia, I thank all the comrades. A round of applause for you all. I want to thank President Lula for being here at our event. Our first lady Janja, thank you very much. Our minister Guilherme Bolos, Nil and Paulo Félix, our partners in this journey, Aunt Cida, who represents homeless women, and all our wonderful secretaries who help us every day. Every day. Well, folks, I also want to thank the Tabuão city hall, which helped us with everything here, with everything. Thanks for all the effort, right? And I also want to thank the entire team at the General Secretariat, as well as the presidency, for treating us in a very kind and respectful manner. I really appreciate that. For us, this makes all the difference. And so I wanted to say that at this moment when we women are taking a beating from all sides from the far right, we of the MTST, who are celebrating 30 years, our women, our women who are on the ground in the periphery, in the communities, we are not going to take a single step forward. back. We will not take a single step back. While they spew hatred, we will continue building. And we have many women leading the movement, in community leadership positions. And I, Mr. President, am 43 years old, I live in Grajaú, in the outskirts of the city, and I'm at the forefront of one of the largest housing movements in the urban struggle in this country, and there are so many other women in the leadership of the movement. And we do n't just want that, we want more. We women want more. Besides work, we want to see our children grow up. Besides a house, we really want an education. Do we want it or not, ladies? I want to send a greeting to our male comrades, but the MTST, Janja, is mostly made up of women. It's mostly women [applause] and we're going to keep building on that . I really wanted to, guys, I'm so nervous, sorry. And I wanted to say, Mr. President, that you are a role model for us, a reference point, a beacon, because the president did n't want just a little bit, he wanted a lot for his people. He was the one who brought an inclusive housing program to places where there were no homes . Wherever there was hunger, [I shouted] he brought the soup kitchens. And here, and here I would like a round of applause for our cooks, Mr. President, who have already produced more than 10 million meals. And in places where we lacked dignity, you brought land regularization and postal codes for everyone. [shout] Today, Brazil has zip codes for everyone in its communities, in its favelas. So, Mr. President, to conclude, we at the MTST have already decided against the enemies of the people, against the enemies of women, we stand side by side. We are here, ready to defend our people, to defend our Brazil. And I'll wrap things up by saying, next week we have a very important event, an event where we'll have to do a big mobilization like this one, okay? Combined? We're going to have to be there in large numbers to demonstrate that we're on the right side of history, that we want more. We want more, and we will achieve it, and we will fight for it. Long live the MTST! Long live the 30th anniversary of the MTST! Long live President Lula! Come on, everyone. Thank you, Ana. Folks, the struggle for land in this country is a legacy of the slavery process. We want to overcome this legacy. We want land for everyone, work for everyone, and food for everyone. Just like our beloved Aunt Cida, the fighter, has been doing for decades. Come here . [applause] Oh my gosh, I'm nervous too. Ana P. People, first of all, long live the struggle of women and long live the struggle of the people. And where are the people, folks? It's a pleasure, President Lula, it's a great pleasure to be here. I'm so nervous. It's a dream come true to be here today with my president, Lula. with our president Lula. I had several things to say, but when I get up here next to you, I lose my voice, I lose everything. But I would like to ask permission to read a little about what you have already done for all of us Brazilians. Let's go. Oh, just a moment. Good morning, President Lula. My name is Aunt Cida. I've been part of the movement for 18 years. And it is with great pride that I have been in this movement for 18 years with my comrades, and today I am here alongside the greatest and best president of our country. Mr. President, I wanted to tell our president that today is one of the most important days in our struggle, the struggle of the MTST. It's a day that no one from these people will forget, a very important day. I also wanted to say, Mr. President, that we fought hard to get housing, and God guided President Lula to implement the housing policy project for us workers. I also wanted to tell the president that President Lula has the greatness in his heart, in his soul, to place in the government palace the greatest leader of a social movement, which is Guilherme Bolos. I wanted to tell you, Bolos, that you are our pride. You are our inspiration, just as Lula is our pride and our aspiration. I wanted to say, Mr. President, that we will continue together, together, without letting go of anyone's hand, to bring much more dignity. Our people are already feeling that they have dignity. Today we have the project that you put forward for homeless people at the university, we have community kitchens within the communities. Sir, sir, you have no idea how much you bring here to all of us, the working people. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Thank you very much, Grêmio Bolos. First Lady, Ana. Kisses. [applause] Now I want to call him. He is the one who represents us. It's a beacon for us all. He's a mom friend. It's an outstretched hand, but there were also some changes here, okay? But I'll be right back with the person I was going to call. At this moment I want to call on the First Lady Janja, who represents us very well, to come here and give a speech to us, the women of the MTST and the women of Brazil. Thanks. Good morning, comrades, and especially good morning, female comrades. With great pride, once again, I was taken by surprise. I think it's becoming a tradition already. Last Sunday was like this, and now it's happening again. So, Ana, I wanted to greet all the women here on your behalf, on behalf of Aunt Cida. Yes, congratulations to all the women who have fought for these 30 years of the MTST. We know that these 30 years, Ana, must not have been an easy journey, especially for women, right, who are in their territories fighting for housing, fighting for security, for the safety of their children, for education. And we know that many achievements have happened today, and I am very proud to walk alongside President Lula and President Lula in these struggles, which I find very important. And I wanted to give a special shout-out to our cooks here at the community kitchens. You know the work I do with food security, and as an ambassador for FAU now, I am very proud to know that a social technology that was born during the pandemic, Mr. President, the community kitchens, is now a public policy of the government. This is fundamental. I think, as I said the other day, that I believe in and work very hard for public policies. Therefore, a public housing policy like the Minha Casa, Minha Vida program is essential. And you know that when President Lula returned in 2023, we found the program practically at a standstill. That's why we resumed [the program], and today we have, you know, many more families, mothers, single mothers, you know, with their own homes. And you know that women are a priority in this program, but anyway, they did n't call me here to talk about that, Ana. They called me here because, as you know, I've been working a lot for the Brazil Pact against Femicide. And here, since we are mostly women, today we are also here to ask for the commitment of our male comrades in the movement, to unite with us women against femicide. I think that's very important, Ana. I don't need to say that I know how you all work within the movement. I know this issue is probably already being discussed in many meetings, but we really need the commitment of men, of the MTST movement, so that together we can achieve zero femicide. But I wanted to quickly, Minister, if you'll allow me, of course, give you a special greeting , because I know you're part of all this too, right? And today, uh, it's with pride that you walk alongside President Lula, but this week we had a very dramatic event on social media, and especially on one platform—and here I want to mention its name—which is the Discord platform. And I will reiterate here once again my fight to have this platform banned in Brazil. Only in this way can we guarantee the safety of our children and women. What happens in the underworld of that platform is absurd. I'm not going to elaborate here because I think the case of the 13-year-old girl who committed suicide because of this platform—no, it's not the group that's responsible, the group that promotes this needs to be criminalized—but the platform is complicit in this, and we urgently need to find the legal means to ban this platform in Brazil. It's for the safety of our children, our teenagers, the women, because misogyny runs rampant there, hatred against women runs rampant there, and also for our animals, because the girl who died didn't complete a dare, which was to kill an animal. And she was... she had to do what she did. I can't accept this Brazil. We live in a Brazil where we are working for the well-being of all families, and yet we have this state of affairs on social media. So we want housing, we want security, we want full-time schooling, but we also want a peaceful life, where we know what our children are doing on social media. The digital version of the ECA (Statute of Children and Adolescents) was created for this purpose. President Lula signed the digital version of the Statute of Children and Adolescents (ECA), and I think that was extremely important. It was extremely important. Today, platforms must be held accountable, and this platform, specifically, did not respect the digital Statute of Children and Adolescents (ECA), nor does it respect our children and adolescents. That's why, Mr. President, we really need to ban this platform from Brazil. So, I want to give a shout-out to the MTST, I want to give a shout-out to the women of the MTST, [applause] women alive, healthy, with housing. That's what we want from Brazil. This is the Brazil I believe in. Thank you very much. [applause] Here we are fighting, here we are women fighting, here we are women fighting. Beautiful. A necessary statement here from our first lady. Continuing on, now I want to call him. He is the one who represents us. It's a beacon for us all. It's a friendly shoulder, an outstretched hand, but also one that opens paths and fights side by side with the people. Our minister and lifelong colleague, Guilherme Bolos. [applause] Good morning, warriors of the MTST. What a beautiful moment, Simone, Edson, my teammates, allow me to greet the team that's here. Here we have colleagues who have also walked with us in government. Lilian, who is a secretary at the MDS (Ministry of Social Development), takes great care of the community kitchens . Thank you for being here. Vitória, our national youth secretary, a real firecracker from Pernambuco; Josué, our executive secretary and activist here in our movement; Isadora, our comrade from Sergipe; and Víor Araripe, our national secretary for the peripheries. We are in Tabuão, and that's why we wanted to bring two fighters up to the stage who are significant figures in Tabuão's fighting history. My friend and colleague Paulo Félix and Nil Félix are here with us . Greetings to Janja, and thank you for coming here today as well, Janja. Janja has done extraordinary work in relation to women, in the fight against femicide, in the struggle of women, and the MTST, essentially a women's movement , led by a woman, built by women, and having Janja sharing the pact against femicide here today is a privilege for us. Thank you very much. And our comrade Ana Paula, our national coordinator, our leader of the MTST and Aunt Cida, when I look at Aunt Cida, Aunt Cida is here, she got nervous, Mr. President, and she didn't say that she is one of the beneficiaries of the Minha Casa, Minha Vida program, after your return to government. As I look at some faces here and see so many, I see Cris, who's there in the solidarity kitchen uniform , who won her apartment here in Tabuão da Serra, whose keys you gave her more than 10 years ago, and who's fighting alongside us today. I see Rosaela sitting there in the Roque Valente complex, which was selected this year for the project during her administration's resumption. I see Edivan standing there, who is also in the same housing complex as Luía Mai, which was also selected during her administration. There are many female fighters, many male fighters. I wanted to make a very special mention here . Also, my colleagues , we have a team here that couldn't be with us on stage because of electoral laws and all that, but I can't fail to ask for a round of applause for our team in São Paulo, for my dear colleague Fernando Haddad, who is here with us. [applause] and to our colleagues Simone Tebet and Marina Silva, who are here with us as well. This trio, make no mistake, will do a lot for the state of São Paulo in the coming years. I have absolutely no doubt about that. Look, Mr. President, here with these people, this is my home. I owe everything I've achieved in the political struggle to this movement, to these comrades, both men and women; it was alongside these comrades. This is where I feel at home. This is where I come back to in good times and bad. This is for that fighting family. You also have your home, where you go in difficult times and in good times, which is the ABC metalworkers' union, which is your origin, which is your field of struggle. And it's extraordinary that we have a president who is in his third term and who has never forgotten his roots, forgotten where he came from, nor forgotten where he's going. He always goes back there with the factory workers in São Bernardo do Campo. But I also want to tell you that here, too, you're at home. This is your second home. This people has never failed and will never fail to receive the Lord at any time. Because these people who are here, fighters and homeless, know what gratitude is, that the worst thing in the world is to spit in the plate you ate from. These people are grateful to you, because they know what we went through under previous governments in this country. There was a guy—I'm not going to mention anyone's name so as not to bring bad luck to our beautiful event here today—but there was a guy who staged a coup against President Dilma. This guy came in, and one of the first things he did was destroy my home, my life. These people who are here camped out for 21 days on Paulista Avenue to get my house, my life, back. But it returned slowly. Time passed, then another one came in. Even worse, it was a bad thing that only did harm to our country. He destroyed my home, my life for good, and he created, Mr. President, this thing called the green and yellow house. So I'm wondering, has anyone here ever seen a green and yellow house like that? It does not have. I only saw a few now during the World Cup where people painted the wall green and yellow. It's the only green and yellow house he ever had, because he didn't build any others. During the previous government's four years, we had zero affordable housing projects in this country. It only benefited the upper middle class, it only provided mortgage financing, it only gave money to real estate speculation and to those who already had it. It took Lula's return to restore my home, my life, to the people who need it. It took Lula's return, and in three and a half years we went from zero to no less than 2,600,000 homes contracted during President Lula's third term . It took Lula's return to create our property. This was an issue that this movement has always championed. Everyone here knows how unfair it is to have people without homes paying rent they can't afford, people living in high-risk areas, and a lot of abandoned and empty buildings. There in the city center, there are a lot of empty, ghost buildings, only serving for bad things, for crime, for drug use. An abandoned building is only good for that. Lula returned, listened to the movements, created the housing program for our people, and today we already have 400,000 apartments contracted in buildings that belonged to the government and were empty, and now they've become housing for the people. In other words, what was once neglect has been transformed into dignity. The building was abandoned and empty, creating insecurity for the women who passed by. This building was renovated, it underwent a retrofit, oh what a beautiful word. And from that point on, the people received their keys and are now living in buildings that were previously abandoned. Because poor workers also have the right to live in the city center of São Paulo, or any city in this country. There are people here, Lula, from the People's Cup. It took the Copa do Povo, which is a plot of land in the east side of Itaquera. Dilma bought the land to build a house in 2015. It remained unfinished because the two presidents who served there , even with the money in the account at Caixa Econômica (a Brazilian bank), didn't release the funds for construction. You needed to come back . In 2024, the Copa do Povo project was announced, and a portion of the condominiums, specifically Copa do Povo B, is scheduled for delivery by the end of this year, comprising 680 apartments. But I want to give you the good news now, because there are many people here who will be participating in the People's Cup, and we had a problem: the construction company that was supposed to carry out the work went bankrupt. That's impressive, isn't it? Just when we were in trouble, the construction company goes bankrupt. She went bankrupt and the construction has been stalled for a year and a half now. I want to tell you that this week the decree authorizing the resumption of work was published, which will allow the Copa do Povo project to resume, as ordered by President Lula and signed by him. It's already been published in the Official Gazette and will put another construction company in charge to continue the work and deliver the Copa do Povo apartments to you. But so that nobody gets jealous, I'm going to take this and read each project that was selected by the "Minha Casa, Minha Vida" program, from many people who are here, Mr. President, and who have this. Sometimes we mention the name of a business. Sometimes the bureaucrat at Caixa Econômica treats this as just a number. But these people who are here treat this as the fulfillment of the greatest dream of their lives. And that's why I want to tell you that, in addition to the authorization to resume work on the People's Cup, we've also received the order to begin work on the Gaza Strip. We've already secured the contract. All that's missing is the final document before construction can begin on the coffee plantation in Diadema. [applause] And we've already obtained all the authorization from Caixa Econômica Federal. All that's left is for Tarcísio to do his part and release the remaining state funds to begin construction on phase two of the Roque Valente project in Budazartes. Now, in the last selection process for the "Minha Casa, Minha Vida" program, carried out by Lula, we had the following projects selected that, having obtained the building permit, will be able to receive the funding for construction. The Maria da Penha project in Guarulhos, the Alzira Rufino project in Santos, the Nova Canaã project in Osasco, and the Olga Benário project in Embu das Artes. And then there are those who were selected, but still need to finish the project. It's important for you to understand this, because building a house involves several steps. We need to have the resources to carry out the project there. The architects create the design, obtain the building permit, the license, and the approval before starting construction. Those I've mentioned so far have already had their construction permits granted. Now I'm going to tell you about those projects where authorization has already been given to immediately release the funds to complete the project, followed by construction. Montanhão in São Bernardo do Campo, Vila Calu in Itapirica da Serra, Elsa Soares in Campinas, Eunice Paiva who will also assist the colleagues from Carolina de Jesus. Stay in São Paulo, at the Bet Carvalho complex in Guarulhos, the Lélia Gonzales complex in Santo André, or the Luía Maim complex in Grajaú. There's also Laudelina, Nova Canudos, Chico Mendes here in Tabuão, and my beloved Vila Nova Palestina in the south of São Paulo, and they were pre-selected. The funding will not be released this year, but Pep Mica and Mauá, the centers in São Bernardo do Campo and the eastern zone of São Paulo, have been pre-selected to be able to enter and start the project next year. This here, this list here, it may seem, sorry, it wasn't on my list, Felipe is correcting it. Help from university students. Salvadora Lopes has also been selected. Imagine if you forget one of these, Mr. President. That's why the list of nominees has to be good. Then the people will get you outside because they'll get angry. But look, all these projects, each one, the names I mentioned here, by the way, beautiful names, including those of strong women fighters. For each of these projects I mentioned, we're talking about hundreds of families who will have their dream of owning their own home fulfilled. And when we talk about housing, Mr. President, we're not just talking about a roof over our heads. [Clearing throat] When we talk about housing, we 're talking about dignity. Because those who don't own a home, those who don't have proof of residence, are not treated as citizens. She can't even enroll her child in school, she can't even get an appointment at the health clinic. And that's why, when our government guarantees housing for the people, it's guaranteeing dignity. Often, it's a house that the person will leave as an inheritance for their child or grandchild. For working women, owning a home is often a way to break free from the cycle of domestic violence and gain autonomy. And that is what we are guaranteeing with these achievements, after President Lula's return to the presidency of the Republic. I want to finish by saying this to you all: we have a battle to face in the coming months. This battle is a battle between the defense of Brazil and those who want Brazil on its knees before any foreign power. This battle is between those who want a sovereign country that decides its own destiny, and those who want sycophants and traitors to the nation in command. And look, we're vaccinated, we've lived through 4 years of regression and backwardness in this country. The lack of public policy. We are in a place, Mr. President, here in Tabuão, in this neighborhood, in that community where you waved to the children before going on stage. She had been demanding an urbanization project for years. Víor Araripe, secretary for the peripheries, correct me if I'm wrong about the number, but here alone, 102 million reais were spent on urbanization and land regularization in this Tabuão community. As part of the "Living Periphery" program, which invested over 11 billion reais, my colleague Simões invested in urbanization, regularization, and slope containment. What's at stake this year isn't a partisan political dispute. What's at stake this year is whether we want those who bring housing to the people or those who end housing programs. It's a matter of whether we want someone who respects women and makes a pact against femicide, or someone who treats women as submissive and inferior. It's a question of whether we want a statesman who commands respect and makes the Brazilian people proud abroad, or whether we want a handful of sycophants, traitors to the nation, who bring shame to our people. submitting to other countries. Guys, I know everyone here is convinced. Everyone here knows what they want for our country, but there are some people who still don't. And that's why what I want to ask you is to talk to these people and ask them to compare. Compare the trajectories. People may like or dislike President Lula, they may like or dislike us, the MTST, and so on. That's part of the game. Now people can't lie and ignore everything that has been done, the trajectory and history of this man who is here. Here we have a guy who came from Caitéis, in the backlands of Pernambuco. Who here is from the Northeast of Brazil or a child of someone from the Northeast of Brazil, raise your hand. The MTST is a northeastern Brazilian community in São Paulo. Lula, that guy came from the backlands, not even from São Geraldo, he came in a truck. Three days to get to São Paulo with my mother. 13 days, 13 days, 13 days to get to São Paulo. And she came with her mother and siblings. Lula ate bread for the first time when he was 7 years old. This guy came to live in a community here in São Paulo. He was the first in his family not to go to university. university. Then he had to become president to open the door for the maid's daughter, the bricklayer's son, the worker's son, for the young black man to enter university for the first time. What he did was take a technical course at SENAI to become a lathe operator, and then he went to work as a metalworker in the ABC region. This guy right here led the biggest strikes in defense of workers in the history of this country. He founded a political party, the PT, and a trade union federation, the CUT. And he went and became this low-level worker without a degree, daring to run for president of the Republic in 1989. Nobody gave him a chance. It went to the second round. He didn't win here, but he didn't give up. It was in '94 again, he lost. But he didn't give up. It was in '98 again , he lost. I was a teenager, Lula. In '98, I remember the newspapers of the time, after '98, saying: "Lula is finished, he has a lot of rejection, he 'll never win an election in Brazil, it's over ." He didn't back down, it was in 2002, he won the election, lifted 30 million people out of poverty in this country, and created all the social programs that we know today. He created Bolsa Família, he created Minha Casa, Minha Vida, he created Luz para Todos, he created Proi, he created everything we know, they tried to sabotage him, he was re-elected, as if challenging the Brazilian elite in this way wasn't enough. He then decided to put a woman in as his successor and elected the first female president of this country, which was Dilma. But this does not happen with impunity. The Brazilian elite shows no mercy to those they might encounter. The Brazilian elite is ruthless in attacking those who challenge them. And this guy here, after doing everything he did, suffered the most shameful persecution we've ever seen in the history of this country. Every day the television was badmouthing him, attacking him with lies and allegations that were never proven. He was lynched in a public square. They locked him up in Curitiba for 580 days , but he never asked for an electronic ankle monitor , much less tried to be a blacksmith and try to get one himself. He never stood there with his head held high and with dignity. I remember, I went to visit him several times, we would come in crying with sadness and he would scold us. This guy, again, when he was in Curitiba, Janja remembers this, it was in the newspaper every day: "Lula is finished, Lula is done, what's coming next?" He left Curitiba to enter the Planalto Palace for the third time through the front door and be president of this country again. So, my people, whoever doesn't like Lula, let them not like him, but respect him. Respect what this guy did for Brazil. Respect this guy's history. [applause] Because here we have a really tough guy from Pernambuco . On the other side, we have a citizen who can't stand any debate without fainting. Here we have a guy who did a lot for Brazil. People may not like him, but they have to recognize that this guy took Brazil off the hunger map twice. Liliam, [applause] you have to recognize that this guy created the biggest housing program in Brazilian history, which is Minha Casa, Minha Vida (My House, My Life). You have to recognize that this guy lifted 30 million Brazilians out of poverty and extreme poverty. Poverty. And the people from the Northeast and the children of people from the Northeast who are here know, are grateful, and hold in their hearts what the transposition of the São Francisco River was, Mr. President, the revolution that it was for the Northeast, that freed the people from dependence on the water truck mafia run by local landowners. And now the water reaches the tap, it reaches to irrigate the fields, it reaches the people who want to live and work. So even for those who are against it, respect, respect the greatest president in the history of this country. [applause] Respect the man who came from humble beginnings. [applause] Home [applause] back home . [applause] The voice of the people is the voice of God. President Lula, there you go, okay? And that's why I want to be here, not as your minister, which I am very proud to be your minister and to be part of our government, I want to be here as someone who spent 25 years in this movement, working hard with these people, fighting with these people, to thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you have done, for housing and for our people. The most suffering worker in this country, and for everything we are still going to do, which is to end the 6-day-on, 1-day work schedule in Brazil, which is to guarantee more and more dignity for our people. Thank you, President Lula. This people, this family of the homeless movement, is grateful to you and will be with you until the end, but certainly this year until victory. We are together, my people. It's Lula. [applause] [applause] God. Let's go, people. Continuing here. Before we call on this special speech, of course all of them were special, we need to give a message here, that after President Lula's speech, there will be an assembly for all MTST militants. So, remain in your places. Okay? Agreed, Money. We have a mission. Let's go there. Let's go . Let's go there with us at the front. Let's go . Let's go. [applause] Mr. President, this is our Red Sea. If you ask each and every one here, the story of each one's struggle will be a story of much, much faith, much determination. And I will too. Let me tell my story. I still remember how Celta leaked the occupation of the land, the first bamboo shoots, a mixture of fear and distress. I said, "I am a warrior." And I boarded the bus. A red flag contrasting with the moon. I said, "We are warriors and the fight continues." A comrade came and said, "The fight is difficult, but we will go to the end." Then a coffee shop appeared and the comrades in the struggle began to shout: MTST, the fight is MTST, the fight is [applause] faith in the fight, we will win. Ladies and gentlemen, with you the greatest president in the history of this country, Luís Inácio Lula da Silva. [applause] [applause] Thank you. Bemar [applause] due to the responsibility of Brazilian legislation. I am here as President of the Republic and I came at the invitation of the MTST, because not every country in the world has a movement with the seriousness that you have managed to impose on the MTST. Not every country in the world has a The movement has the level of politicization, preparation, and willingness to fight that the MTST has. So, I am here proudly to celebrate your 30th anniversary, part of which we participated in. But I am also here to say a few things. We can't talk about elections, nobody can ask for votes. There are many good people here who will be running for something this year. But I have to make an acknowledgment. On cakes. I went to São José dos Campos, to the IMP, the National Institute for Space Research, to present data on the decrease in deforestation in this country. And Marina, you can be proud, because yesterday we announced the lowest deforestation in history since 2016. It was fantastic. And I made sure to take pictures of the numbers, because like the United States, in this new tariff they imposed on Brazil, one of the reasons was that we weren't taking care of deforestation, I want to prepare the numbers and send them to my friend Trump so he knows that whoever informed him didn't tell him the truth. Also, I can't fail to mention... A colleague I met recently, who was my Minister of Planning, who participated with DAD in the National Monetary Council, and whose work allowed us to reap not everything we wanted, but possibly some of the best harvests this country has ever had. And also our colleague Simonitep showed immense courage, moving to São Paulo with the understanding that women came to take their place and will not ask for permission, they have the right. And I also can't fail to mention Haddad. I am a very lucky man, a football coach, he needs luck and good players. And I am very lucky to have had Haddad as my Minister of Education, who was by far the best Minister of Education we have had, because that's where it all began so that the poor could enter university with the creation of Proúi. And Proúi was not an easy thing . I even considered using money from the guarantee fund to ensure that the poor in the periphery could go to university. And then Haddad came along. With a brilliant idea to transform the debt of private universities into scholarships, PROI became the largest university inclusion program in the history of this country. And then I called Haddad to be Minister of Finance. Haddad achieved a feat that is not yet fully reflected in people's pockets and circumstances. For over 40 years, we have been waiting for a tax reform in this country so that, through income, we could achieve social justice. And we succeeded, with only 100 left-wing deputies, in approving a tax reform proposal that will come into effect next year and will certainly greatly benefit Brazil, the Brazilian people, businesses, and commerce, because it is a fair tax reform. And it was also Haddad's project that we managed to invent for people earning up to R$ 5,000 to pay income tax. It is thanks to the success of our economic policy that we can say today, anywhere in the world, that we have the lowest accumulated inflation in 4 years in the history of Brazil. That we can tell you that we have the lowest unemployment. From the history of Brazil, we have the highest growth in the wage bill in Brazilian history, we have the second highest inflow of foreign capital for direct investment, we have the highest exports in Brazilian history, we opened 660 new markets, all because the economy is doing well. Because if the economy doesn't do well, nobody invests in the country. And these three colleagues are sitting here with their three students, listening to the professors speak. I want to express my gratitude to you. That's what I feel for your loyalty in the work you have done for this country [applause] in economic matters and in the economy. It is gratitude that I have for you, because today the country is an example to the world. Brazil didn't grow above 3%. Since I left the presidency in 2010, since I left the presidency in 2010, Brazil didn't grow above 3%. It grew 3% in 2011 with Dilma, then it fell to two, then to one, then Then came the coup against Dilma, and the economy went downhill. Only when we returned did the economy start growing above 3% for three consecutive years. Not because I'm lucky, but because there's something we can do in Brazil, even with great weakness. It's impossible for the country to succeed if you don't have money circulating in people's hands. It's impossible for this country to succeed if money is in the hands of only a few people. It's impossible for this country to succeed if people can't afford to buy food. So what do we do? I'm absolutely certain that you are part of the largest housing program in the history of this country. I started doing housing programs, back then. I wasn't president. I started in 1990 at the Citizenship Institute, when we did the first housing project. And in that project, what did we discover? We discovered that 87% of the houses built in this country were built by the people themselves. It was called "house and community effort." And there must be many people here who participated in "house and community effort." It was comrades who would do their part. In the electrical department, there were the guys who would work on the job on weekends, the guys who would do the roofing, and the guys who did the concrete work. I do n't know if Tanilau ever did concrete work, but we worked at the factory and on Saturdays and Sundays we'd go to a guy's house to either dig a well or do concrete work, which was the simplest thing we did. I'm talking about Estilang here, this guy in the red shirt near you. This guy, he's from the Monstrous Union opposition to the people in São Paulo since '78, '79, '80. Therefore, he's a historical figure in the union struggle here in the state of São Paulo, and he was incredibly lucky that his daughter, Natália, met Bolos, they got married, and they're here. When I was introduced, when Bolos invited me to a meeting in a dark place around here, which I didn't even know where it was, it seemed like a clandestine meeting at night, the first person I saw was Estilang. I asked: "What "What are you doing here?" I'm Natalia's father. Congratulations, Celalu, because all the struggle you waged in the labor movement has resulted in what we have achieved for our country today. Another important thing, another important thing is that you have to understand the following: If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be doing what we 're doing. I always say [snoring] that if the people don't have the capacity to demand, the capacity to persist in demanding, the capacity to insist on demanding, we often don't get things done, because the slowness of the bureaucratic machine, the machine's pace, isn't the pace of those who need things, it's not the pace, it's all very complicated. I'll tell you something, we 've been trying, for about three months now, I created a program with 30 billion reais for home renovations. Because there are people who don't want to buy a house, there are people who want to build a bathroom, there are people who want to build an extra room for their grandchildren, there are people who want... "Building a garage. There are guys who want to borrow money to build a small roof and a barbecue area, the so-called 'add-on'. I made 30 billion available, thinking it would be easy. I thought it would be easy, you know? And here's the thing, this plan is having difficulty running because there are many problems for people to withdraw, to borrow money, there are many requirements. Sometimes the guy has land that isn't legalized. Sometimes the guy is building a house that doesn't have occupancy permits. The city hall has n't done the documentation and the poor guy wants to build the house, he needs to do the renovations. He has the means to pay, but he can't because there's bureaucracy that prevents it. You have no idea. Now we 've decided to release money to finance motorcycles for food delivery drivers in this country. We've decided to release money to finance bicycles. We've decided to put money to allow the purchase of Uber vehicles, cars for Uber, and taxis. A wonderful thing, a celebration, everyone was very happy. Then when we start putting it into practice, things don't move. The guy..." He goes to the bank, arrives at the bank, he talks, he explains. Then he demands something upfront, demands that he not be in debt. The guy, the guy was paying 100 in rent. That money he was paying should be his to pay for his things. Therefore, just stopping paying rent would give him the right to get the financing because he will pay. But he doesn't leave anything. We've already had two meetings. The other day I did something new at the republic. I called 20 people. I wanted the group to have brought 100. I wanted 100 people who have the right, who have the money, who went to the bank, who sat at the table and didn't have the right. And I took Daril, the finance minister, along with me. I took Daril, Bruno, you know, from planning, he's in Este's place . I took Miram Belquió along, I took the Bank of Brazil and the Caixa Econômica Federal along. I want to understand why we do the program and this program doesn't move forward. It was a beautiful meeting, a beautiful one. I think nobody I never saw that meeting. The people saying they have a right, and in that act, two were recognized on the spot. There's a little girl from Rio Grande do Norte called Lula's girl, who was being praised there. But not even Lula's girl can get financing. Not even Lula's girl, because she got it and they denied her a helmet. I'm telling you this because it wasn't easy to get where we are. It wasn't easy. At the beginning of "My House, My Life," the government itself, the government of which I was president, didn't believe that the organization had the competence to build houses. Yes. We had many fights, a lot of internal disagreement, because it was an elitist view. It was an electioneering view of people who didn't believe that the movement had the conditions to do it, because every now and then a news story would come out in the newspaper that there had been fraud in some cooperative and they were afraid. People, and even the government had a mistaken view when we asked for financing. "Ah, but will the person be able to pay?" And today I want to tell you on the 30th anniversary, if it weren't for persistence If it weren't for you, possibly in the middle of my life, these entities wouldn't exist with the strength they have today. Therefore, thank you for what you have done and for what you will continue to do in this country. The second thing that is important for you to know is that when we started thinking about housing for the poor, it was like this: it had to be a building with a maximum of four floors, because there were no elevators, because poor people couldn't afford the cost of an elevator. I even participated in government meetings. I was furious with the explanations and arguments. They even told me that buildings can only have elevators if there's a business downstairs and that business generates enough revenue for the housing complex to pay for the elevator. I was indignant, not to say the word pissed off, I was indignant. Why can't poor people have elevators? I left the government in 2010 and there still weren't elevators. When I returned in 2023, I visited an MTST housing complex in the east zone and there I went up... In the building, which I think had two or three floors, and an elevator. The apartment was 60 square meters, bigger than what we do with the company. And there was even a connection between the two buildings. Nobody needed that elevator. You could go from one building to the other. You know? So, why were you able to do that? Why did you prove that it's possible to build bigger, cheaper [clearing throat] and of better quality? Something tells me that what you 're doing miraculously is that profit is important? But it's not just profit that makes us work well, it's that the communities work with a lot of love to build the houses that they themselves will live in. That's a lesson the government learned from you. And when we build houses, people, look at how absurd it is. This country has never had a real housing program. Never. And when I started trying to create a housing program, the most the businessmen said they could do was 200,000 houses. We reached 1 million in the first year and now we're going to reach three million houses. The contract is valid until December of this year, and we will need to do more. We will continue handing over the keys to the houses to the women, and we will continue helping people who earn less, because housing is a constitutional right; it's written in the Constitution. Everyone has the right to housing, and we know that housing is a priority in anyone's life. Everyone wants a nest to raise their children. And that's why we will continue. And that's why I am grateful to you. And that's why I want to tell you, we will do more. Because we have already learned to do more. We have already learned. And I know what suffering is. When I arrived from Cait, I went to live in Vila Carioca, on Albino de Morais Street. Albino de Morais Street. I went to live in the back of a bar; it was a room and kitchen in the back of a bar. The bathroom we used to shower and relieve ourselves was the bar's bathroom. It was the edge of the bar, and there was no toilet; it was a hole. And I lived there with... Thirteen people sleeping in the kitchen. Thirteen people on those makeshift beds for showering. It was hell. Because there were people who would drink cachaça at the bar and then go to the bathroom outside. And it was my mother who had to shower there. It was my sisters who had to shower there. Then when I bought my first house, my first house, in 1976, it was 33 square meters. 33. I lived there with my wife, three children, my mother-in-law, and two dogs . Because the house was something extraordinary. It gave our children security to make friends. It gave our children security to have a school. It gave our partners security to have friendly relationships with people. Which is very important when you don't have salt at home, knocking on someone's door and asking for a cup of salt. Poor people are like that, you know. Poor people are like that. If you don't have salt, you go to your neighbor's house , ask for a cup of salt, lend me a cup of oil, lend me a... "A little sugar, ask me for a little coffee. That's how our life is. That's how it is. That's why the Brazilian authorities should be ashamed. If these people weren't the people they are, with the intelligence they have, the maturity they have, and the patience they have, much misfortune would have already happened in this country, because poor people suffer, suffer, and suffer. And thank God you had the competence to create the movement, to create the movement that knew how to resist and was often a victim of prejudice. I remember when you were invading that land near Scania. I went there, I went there with the sole purpose of giving a speech not to the people who were occupying it, but to the group that was next door, because the poor, the workers who had houses were fed up with you, because you were occupying neighboring land. I went there..." I tried to convince them, I tried to convince them that they were you before they had the house and that they needed to be in solidarity with you, because you had the same dream as them. I wasn't occupying the space to be an enemy, I was occupying it to live with dignity. [applause] So, folks, I want to tell you one last thing here. I lived in a place that flooded. Anyone familiar with Ponte Preta will find it there, near the villages of São José and São Caetano, in the village of Lapoá, just past the church by the lake of São João Clíaco. I lived there. The first year I arrived there, I arrived in June of one year. In January, it rained heavily , and there was 1.20 meters of water inside my new house. Nobody knows. I don't know what kind of poor person lives through this. No banker on Faria Lima knows. No rural landowner knows. The poor person knows best. What do you want to wake up at 10 pm with rats trying to swim, with cockroaches trying to suckle, with eggs crawling inside the house, and you have to get up, wade through that dirty water, get your mother out, and gather your belongings? The next day you wash, thank God, covered in blood, suck on your stones. When you finish washing, you see another rainstorm and it floods again, and you have to clean again. You have to go through this to know what the priorities are and how to take care of the most needy people in this country. You have to go through this, because otherwise people know about it through literature, but they haven't lived it. They did not live. If people don't truly live, it's like knowing someone has a stomach ache, but it's not you. Oh, okay, you have a stomach ache, right? But it's not me, mine doesn't hurt. So I know what we're going through. I know what each family goes through. I was just passing by, having arrived here by helicopter, and I was commenting with a fellow aeronaut who was with me. Take a look at the poor people's house. Do you think anyone who decides the interest rate knows this? Do you think anyone who sets the interest rate knows how these people live? He doesn't know, he does n't know. He thinks that when Faria Lima [a financial district in São Paulo] keeps demanding fiscal adjustment, it must not be about the accounts, does he even know what that is? I don't know. They have no idea, because the poor are just a number. And the difference is that for us, the poor person is a woman, a man, not a number. And it is them that we have to take care of. And that's why we're going to continue doing things to prioritize the people most in need. Now, now we've arrived. I am very proud because we have finally been recognized as a country that has moved out of the low level of human development and we are now a country that is among the countries with a high level of human development. We have more than eight points. Brazil has become a country almost adapted to the CDE. I'm very proud of that. I'm very proud because I wanted you all to study a little. We are in the midst of an election. I wanted you to take, cake, you can help with this, take the history of Brazil. Get the records of all the presidents of the Republic, from Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca all the way up to before we got to 2003. Please do that for me. Do this for the people, so we can be aware of who the presidents of this country were who cared about the poor. Let those who cared about those in need of social inclusion do so. Do this research, investigate, because it's time for us to show the truth. Nobody can explain it to me, nobody. Why did it take this country 420 years to create a federal university? 420 years. I want someone to tell me, so many educated people, so many people with university degrees, so many people who have been presidents, so many people who have been Ministers of Education, why didn't they do it ? They had to wait until a week later, someone as illiterate as me, to do [laughs] what they should have done. I say this with sadness. I say this with sadness, because they could have done it 200 years ago, 100 years ago, but they didn't because this country had indigenous people. According to them, indigenous people were lazy and therefore didn't need to study. Then, for 350 years, black people from Africa were brought here to enslave people. They did n't need to study either; only the children of the rich went to London, to Paris, to Boston, while the poor were here, wielding hoes, cutting sugarcane, digging holes—they didn't need to study. Then it was necessary to get the metal lu to do no. We like bricklayers, we like lathe operators, we like domestic workers, but they have the right to be doctors, to be engineers, to be PhDs. [applause] I came to the presidency of the Republic to prove to him that the poor don't like second-rate things. Poor people don't like going to the market at the end of the market day. We would like to buy the best fruit at the beginning, before being embraced. Buying the safe places will have to be embraced. Because when people go to buy an egg at noon, the egg is already squeezed so much because so many people want it for the egg. I came here to say that this country needs to improve. We need to take care of the lower middle class . We need to provide housing for everyone, but we also need to generate quality jobs. That's why I'm so obsessed with education, my obsession. I see here that there are more women than men. And my obsession with education, beyond shaping the individual, is that he needs to have a quality profession so he can earn more, live better, and take better care of his family. I want women to study because, above all else, women need something sacred: they need independence. Women are no longer objects for the bed and table. [applause] A woman cannot live with someone in exchange for a plate of food or rent. A woman should live with someone if she likes them, if she wants to. That's why it's important to have a profession, because when a guy gets home, he'll say, "Honey, grab some underwear, honey, grab a towel, honey, give me a cold beer, I'm watching the game," you know? She says, "Get up and go get it. Get up and go get it." Because women, women have already learned the ropes in the job market. Women have already learned the ropes in the job market. The woman has already learned and she likes it. Because nobody likes staying home. Clean the bathroom, clean the bed, clean the room, clean the floor, clean the bathroom. No, women want to work outside the home. Now men need to learn how to work in the kitchen to help women. That's what I need to do. Therefore, my fellow comrades, I am happy with the fight we are waging against violence against women. I'm grateful to all three branches of government, you know? The Chamber of Deputies, the Senate, the Supreme Court, and the Presidency of the Republic. And JA got involved in this so that we can start saying it loud and clear. The fight for survival, respect, and dignity for women is not just a woman's fight; it's a man's fight too, because the aggressor is a man. So it's important that we, loud and clear, learn through action. Every time we give a speech in the movement, every time, don't forget to ask your comrades, comrade, use your hand to caress your wife, use your hand to caress your children. He uses his hand for anything but hitting women. Except for hitting women. I've said one thing before: this is n't just their fight, it's our fight. It's our fight. Therefore, since signing the pact, we have already achieved more than we have achieved in the last 50 years. This demonstrates that when society unites around a cause, we achieve it. So, buying cakes, my dear president, my dear one who forgot to mention the house, my dear president, I want to tell you, it was worth it to be with you. It's worth saying, as I always say, I know where I came from and I know where I'm going. I know they are my lifelong friends, and I know they are temporary friends. And I can tell you, I am grateful because in every moment of my life, in every difficult moment I went through, when the Brazilian elite wanted to cast infamy against me, wanted to tarnish a name that Dona Lindu gave me, you raised your heads and said: " Lula is not just Lula. Lula is all of us." And they learned to respect Lula because of that. So, everyone, congratulations. Congratulations. Actually, I'm going to extend an invitation to you all. I will only officially launch my candidacy on the 16th. And I wanted to invite you all to the 16th, a Sunday morning, at the Vila Euclides stadium, where it all began in the 80s of our lives. So, see you Sunday, God willing, folks. A hug from the heart. [applause] There [applause] he took his place to take it. Thanks, Gão.