Lagoa do Dionísio – Ibitiara – Bahia, April 8, 2018

Eternal President,

Emotion overtakes me in this moment as a mix of sadness, outrage, disappointment, but also hope, love, tenacity, determination. I am here thinking that you do not quite understand the scale of your stature and how much you represent to us. Yesterday while you were speaking I cried a lot, every word spoken reminded me of the Brazil you helped to build for every Brazilian man and woman, who certainly recognize that Brazil even in the face of all the hatred that has taken hold. Believe it. There are many more people that love you and will fight to the end for your freedom.

I am from the interior of Bahia, an educator, single mother, a leftist, and now I AM LULA! In this moment, I could not but register my support for Your Excellency. I dream of the day that I will be able to hug you, I dream of the day that I will see you once again wearing the presidential sash.

As an educator, I directly witnessed the advances of your administration. Before 2002, I would see children fainting in the lunch line and I knew, for many of them, that was the main meal of their day. That situation was slowly changed, with families having more dignity, and students' learning improving. They began to walk with their heads held high, to dream of a better future, and many of them did. A great many of these children went to university and changed the course of their lives. That is gratifying to know, isn't it? Yes, Mister Luís, you really are a "stand-up" guy, much more so than Obama expressed in his famous phrase about you.

You called out because you know that these millions of Lulas already existed in each of us, planted when you enabled us to believe that we were people, and now you grant us the privilege of being "Lula." How loaded with meaning that is to us. To be Lula is to be a great statesperson; to be Lula is to be a global leader respected around the world; to be Lula is to carry in our heart the certainty of having lifted 36 million people out of extreme poverty; to be Lula is to allow women and black, poor, Northeastern Brazilians to believe that they are a fundamental part of society; to be Lula is to love Brazil and Brazilians so much that while you are suffering all of the injustices from the courts and the media you still want to take care of the people, your people. To be Lula is to be love. Lula is no longer just a man, he is an idea, he is the awareness that everyone shares that he or she must fight for all the other Lulas out there...

We are united, we will resist until the end, for you, for us. They will not imprison our dreams, they will not imprison YOUR dreams. Stay strong with your head held high. You are our giant and we will resist as long as it takes for us to put you back in the place you deserve—the presidency of the Federative Republic of Brazil.

We love you very much,