Lula da Silva praised health workers in Brazil 4:33
Tune in to CNN on Thursday at 3pm ET to watch Christiane Amanpour's full exclusive interview with former President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
(CNN) -
Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called on US President Joe Biden to ensure the fairness of the vaccine, in an exclusive interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour.
Speaking from Sao Paulo, Brazil, da Silva said the United States has a surplus of vaccines and suggested that the surplus could be donated to countries in need.
"One suggestion that I would like to make to President Biden through his program is: it is very important to call a G20 meeting urgently," da Silva told Amanpour.
“It is important to call the main leaders of the world and put one thing on the table, one topic.
Vaccine, vaccine and vaccine! "
He added: “The responsibility to international leaders is tremendous, so I ask President Biden to do it because I can't… I don't believe in my government.
And then, I couldn't ask that of Trump, but Biden is a breath for democracy in the world. "
In da Silva's first interview since a Supreme Court judge overturned his 2017 convictions for corruption and money laundering last week, the former president also said he would not decline an invitation to run in the country's presidential election next year. .
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“When the time comes to run for the elections, and if my party and the other allied parties understand that I can be the candidate, and if I am well and my health with the energy and power I have today, I can assure you that I will not I'm going to decline that invitation, but I don't want to talk about it.
That is not my top priority.
My main priority now is to save this country, ”da Silva said.
The South American nation has been setting a daily record for virus deaths repeatedly in recent days as another brutal wave of covid-19 sweeps the country.
The resurgence has overwhelmed physicians fighting on the front lines of the pandemic with a growing number of hospitals across the country reaching capacity.
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On Tuesday, the research institution of the Brazilian Ministry of Health, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, called the current emergency in the country "the largest health and hospital collapse in the history of Brazil."
Da Silva, 75, was convicted on corruption and money laundering charges three years ago as a result of an extensive investigation into the state oil company Petrobras, dubbed "Operation Lava Jato."
But in a surprise move last Monday, a Brazilian Supreme Court judge overturned their convictions and ordered the cases to be tried again in the Brasilia Federal Court.
If the ruling stands, and if Lula is not convicted again before the nomination deadline, he could technically run for office again and challenge current President Jair Bolsonaro in 2022.
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Da Silva, who helped found the left-wing Workers' Party, has largely refused to be lured into running for office, saying last Wednesday that he "doesn't have time to think about the candidacy in 2022."
However, the former president, better known as Lula, launched a scathing attack on Bolsonaro, telling Brazilians last week not to "follow any stupid decisions of the president and the health minister" and urging people to get vaccinated.
He also condemned the current administration's handling of the pandemic, saying that many deaths from the virus "could have been prevented."
"If we had a president who respected the population, he would have created a crisis committee to guide Brazilian society on what to do each week," added the former president.
Bolsonaro defended his handling of the health crisis in the face of Da Silva's comments, telling CNN Brazil last week that his government empowered local officials and argued that the imposition of lockdown measures, which he has refused to do It would only "lead the citizen to a situation of poverty."
Bolsonaro has previously said that he expected the Brazilian Supreme Court to reinstate da Silva's convictions and accused his predecessor of having ambitions for 2022. “Former President Lula is now starting his campaign.
Since he has nothing good to show and this is the rule [of the Workers' Party], his campaign is based on criticizing, lying and misinforming, "he said.
While the elections are still 18 months away, the coronavirus outbreak in Brazil is likely to influence voters' sentiments.
Bolsonaro's disapproval ratings reached their highest level to date at 54%, according to the latest poll results from the Datafolha polling institute released Wednesday.
Brazil has the second highest number of covid-19 in the world with 11,603,535 cases and 282,127 coronavirus-related deaths as of Tuesday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Hospitals are awash with cases across the country.
CNN's latest analysis shows that ICU occupancy rates in 25 of Brazil's 26 states plus its federal district are 80% or more.
Of those, 14 states have ICU occupancy rates equal to or greater than 90%, putting them at imminent risk of collapse.
On Tuesday, the governor of Brazil's second most populous state, Minas Gerais, said the health system simply could not take in new patients.
"I don't want Minas Gerais to become a horror movie," Romeu Zema said at a press conference to announce the implementation of the state-wide "purple phase", the most restrictive of the Minas Gerais plan to handle the pandemic. .
"Any new infected can mean one more death because the state does not have the capacity to receive new patients," said Zema.
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Bolsonaro's crisis management under fire
Since the start of Brazil's vaccination campaign on January 17, the country has applied more than 12.5 million doses of vaccines in a population of more than 211 million.
More than 9 million people have received at least one dose, while just over 3 million people have received a second dose, according to the latest data from the country's Ministry of Health.
As the country's spread of the coronavirus outstrips its vaccination rollout, criticism is mounting.
According to the same Datafolha institute survey, which interviewed 2,023 people by phone on March 15 and 16, 54% of Brazilians considered Bolsonaro's performance to be bad or terrible, compared to 48% at the end of January.
The survey report also said that 43% of Brazilians blame Bolsonaro, while 20% blame their state governors for the current state of the pandemic in Brazil.
As for Bolsonaro's presidency, 44% of those polled think it is bad or frightening, four points more than in the last poll, and the highest since he took office in January 2019. 30% of those polled they judge the Bolsonaro government as good or great and another 26% see it as fair.
Bolsonaro appointed a new health minister this week, the fourth in a year, as death rates and the ICU soared.
The new minister, cardiologist Marcelo Queiroga, replaces Army General Eduardo Pazuello, but there are few signs of change in the administration's approach to the crisis.
On Tuesday, Queiroga in an interview with CNN Brazil echoed the president by saying that the confinements only apply in "extreme situations" and would not be imposed by the federal government.
Journalists Rodrigo Pedroso and Marcia Reverdosa contributed to this report from Sao Paulo, Brazil. CNN's Caitlin Hu also contributed from New York, Matt Rivers from Rio de Janeiro and Vasco Cotovio from London. CNN's Lauren Said-Moorhouse wrote from London.
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