Lula excoriates Bolsonaro’s ‘moronic’ Covid response in comeback speech

Addressing the nation, Brazil's former president left no doubt that his political fightback had begun

Brazil's former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has excoriated Jair Bolsonaro's moronic" and bungling response to the coronavirus pandemic, in a stirring and potentially historic address widely seen as the start of a bid to wrestle the presidency back from his far-right nemesis.

The veteran leftist, who led Latin America's top economy through some of the brightest years in its modern history, was catapulted back on to the frontline of Brazilian politics on Monday by the surprise decision to quash the corruption convictions that scuppered his bid to reclaim the presidency in 2018. On Tuesday a supreme court judge branded the anti-corruption operation that forced Lula from that year's election the greatest judicial scandal" in Brazilian history.