SAO BERNARDO DO CAMPO, Brazil — Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told thousands of supporters Saturday that he would turn himself in to police, but also maintained his innocence and argued his corruption conviction was simply a way for enemies to make sure he doesn’t run — and possibly win — re-election in October.
The public comments were da Silva’s first since the Supreme Federal Tribunal, the country’s top court, ruled against his petition Thursday to remain free while he continued to appeal his conviction. That ruling set in motion a series of events that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago.
Judge Sergio Moro, who oversees many of the so-called “Car Wash” cases, ordered an arrest warrant for da Silva, giving him until 5 p.m. Friday to present himself to police in Curitiba, about 260 miles (417 kilometers) southwest of Sao Bernardo do Campo.
Da Silva did no such thing. Instead, he hunkered down with supporters in the same metallurgical union that was the spiritual birthplace of his improbable rise to power in one of the world’s most unequal countries.
“The police and ‘Car Wash’ investigators lied. The prosecutors lied,” said da Silva, as a few thousand supporters cheered.
“I don’t forgive them for giving society the idea that I am a thief,” he continued.
Still, da Silva said he would turn himself in “to go there and face them eye to eye.”
Da Silva did not say where or when he would turn himself in. Party leaders have suggested it would be later Saturday.
Police have made clear they do not want to take da Silva with force at the union, a confrontation that could turn violent.
“The intention is not to force compliance at any cost, but rather follow the order the best way possible, with tranquility and without a media show,” president of federal police Luis Antonio Boudens said in a statement late Friday.
Anna Julia Menezes Rodrigues, a specialist in criminal law at Braga Nascimento e Zilio, said da Silva’s defiance up until this point did not turn him into a fugitive. It just meant that it was now up to federal police to carry out the warrant, she said.
Last year, Moro convicted da Silva of trading favors with a construction company in exchange for the promise of a beachfront apartment. That conviction was upheld by an appeals court in January. The former president has always denied wrongdoing in that case and in several other corruption cases that have yet to be tried.
However it happens, the jailing of da Silva will mark a colossal fall from grace for a man who rose to power against steep odds.
Born in the hardscrabble northeast, da Silva rose through the ranks of the union in the country’s industrial south. In 1980, during the military dictatorship, he was arrested in Sao Bernardo do Campo for organizing strikes. He would spend more than a month in jail.
After running for president several times, in 2002 da Silva finally won. He governed from 2003 to 2010, leaving office an international celebrity and with approval ratings in the high 80s.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama once called da Silva the “most popular politician on Earth.”
Like so much in a nation that has become deeply polarized, that da Silva would soon be behind bars was being interpreted differently by supporters and detractors.
“This has always been Lula: a crook and a radical who doesn’t respect the law,” said Edson Soares, a 70-year-old retiree at a shopping mall near the union building. “It will feel so much better to have him in prison.”
Antonio Ferreira dos Santos, a 43-year-old bricklayer who was keeping vigil outside the union, had a different take.
“Lula is one of us. He knows what it is like to have a tough life and loves the poor more than the rich,” said dos Santos.
Workers’ Party leaders insist that da Silva, 72, will still be the party’s candidate in October. Technically, the fact that he will be jailed does not keep him off the ballot.
But in August, the country’s top electoral court makes final decisions about candidacies. It is expected to deny da Silva’s candidacy under Brazil’s “clean slate” law, which disqualifies people who have had criminal convictions upheld. Da Silva could appeal such a decision even though doing so from jail would be more complicated.
The former leader is the latest of many high-profile people to be ensnared in possibly the largest corruption scandal in Latin American history. Over the last four years, Brazilians have seen near weekly police operations and arrests of the elite, like former Odebrecht CEO Marcelo Odebrecht.
Investigators uncovered a major scheme in which construction companies essentially formed a cartel that doled out inflated contracts from state oil company Petrobras, paying billions in kickbacks to politicians and businessmen.
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Peter Prengaman reported from Rio de Janeiro. Associated Press reporter Jill Langlois in Sao Paulo contributed to this report.
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Mauricio Savarese on Twitter: twitter.com/MSavarese
Peter Prengaman on Twitter: twitter.com/peterprengaman
