{"id":204436,"date":"2019-08-18T15:05:44","date_gmt":"2019-08-18T19:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=204436"},"modified":"2019-08-18T15:05:44","modified_gmt":"2019-08-18T19:05:44","slug":"leonardo-padura-visits-former-brazilian-president-lula-da-silva-in-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/culture\/literature\/leonardo-padura-visits-former-brazilian-president-lula-da-silva-in-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"Leonardo Padura visits former Brazilian President Lula da Silva in prison"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cuban writer Leonardo Padura was received by former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the prison of the Curitiba Federal Police, where he has been held prisoner since April 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I do not represent any Cuban political organization. I just came as a friend of President Lula,” Padura said through a megaphone to activists gathered at the exit of the prison.<\/span><\/p>\n

During this solidarity visit, he was accompanied by M\u00f3nica Benicio, architect, activist and widow of <\/span>Marielle Franco<\/span><\/a>, the Rio de Janeiro councilwoman who was also murdered in 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n

The prison regime to which Lula da Silva is subjected only allows him to receive two friends per week for one hour.<\/span><\/p>\n

Padura, who has had a personal friendship with the Brazilian leader for several years, said that with the visit he wanted to show his “solidarity and gratitude for having distinguished and having read my books.”<\/span><\/p>\n

At the end of the meeting, the Cuban writer circulated a Statement denouncing that “Lula has been criminalized for political reasons.”<\/span><\/p>\n