Lula da Silva in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sept. 8, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/ @LulaOficial

Rio de Janeiro, September 10 (RHC)-- Thousands of people gathered in Rio de Janeiro to listen to the Workers' Party (PT) presidential candidate Lula da Silva, who reaffirmed his commitment to the transformation of the world's best-known Brazilian city.

“I will invest again in Rio de Janeiro...  All over the world, people know what Rio de Janeiro is.  They already learned to sing garota de Ipanema.  Christ the Redeemer received recognition to be declared the eighth wonder of the world,” he said.

Alluding to the prevailing inequality, poverty and violence in this city, the leftist leader also recalled the importance of reinstating social protection policies.  “I want Rio de Janeiro to appear in the newspapers for the quality of education, food, and employment. I do not want the city to appear in the newspapers' red pages with children killed by stray bullets, because the current president supports weapons. Our country must be humanist and fraternal,” Lula pointed out.

The tweet reads: "At a Baixada Fluminense rally, Lula said that Bolsonaro's September 7th event 'looked like a Ku Klux Klan meeting'."

At the massive meeting, Lula ratified his support for the Brazilian Socialist Party candidate for governor Marcelo Freixo, indicating that his administration will modernize the train lines transporting workers from the municipalities of Baixada Fluminense to Rio.

“Start preparing the project because I am going to win the elections. I will invest in Rio de Janeiro again so that the people of the Baixada are treated with respect and decency because that is all we want in life,” the Workers' Party candidate said.

On October 2, Brazilians will elect their next president. According to voting intentions published by Datafolha on Sept. 1, Lula leads citizen preferences with 45 percent, followed by Jair Bolsonaro with 32 percent, and Ciro Gomes with 9 percent.