Politics · Brazil · 2 days ago
Lula defends fuel subsidies and warns Flávio Bolsonaro’s cuts could hurt the poor
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva praised fuel subsidies at a campaign event in Natal on Saturday.
The measures cut federal taxes on gasoline and renewed a subsidy for ethanol.
Lula said the support helps keep higher fuel costs from raising the price of everyday goods such as bread and milk.
He also warned that rival Flávio Bolsonaro’s promised 250 billion reais in cuts could hurt poor people, though he did not specify which cuts he meant.
Bolsonaro led Lula in the first round, with 47.03% of valid votes to Lula’s 45.16%, and they are competing in the second round of the presidential election.
Lula is also campaigning in Rio Grande do Norte, where his ally Cadu de Lula faces Allyson after finishing second in the state’s first-round vote.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva praised fuel subsidies at a campaign event in Natal, Brazil, on Saturday.
He said using revenue from exported oil had helped lower gasoline prices in Brazil despite higher fuel costs linked to the war in Iran.
Lula warned that cuts of 250 billion reais proposed by his opponent Flávio Bolsonaro could affect poorer people.
Lula said the government had removed the federal tax on gasoline and renewed the ethanol subsidy 16 days before the runoff.
- Who
- President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his opponent, Flávio Bolsonaro.
- What
- Lula praised fuel subsidies and warned that Bolsonaro’s proposed cuts could hit poorer people.
- When
- Saturday, October 10, 2026.
- Where
- Natal, in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Norte state.
- Why
- Lula said subsidies helped prevent higher fuel costs from reaching the price of basic goods, and argued that cuts would fall on poor people.
Lula
Flávio Bolsonaro
Proposed cuts
Lula
Lula said Bolsonaro’s proposed 250 billion reais in cuts could affect poorer people.
Flávio Bolsonaro
Bolsonaro has proposed cuts of 250 billion reais; the articles do not state his view on who would be affected.
The government removed the federal tax on gasoline and renewed the ethanol subsidy.
Lula held his first second-round campaign event in Ceilândia in the Federal District.
Lula praised fuel subsidies and criticized Bolsonaro’s proposed cuts at an event in Natal.
- Proposed cuts
- 250 billion reais
- Gasoline tax
- Federal tax reduced to zero
- Ethanol
- Subsidy renewed
- First-round vote
- Lula: 45.16%; Flávio Bolsonaro: 47.03%
- Natal event
- October 10, 2026
What people are saying
We are subsidizing so that the price of the war does not reach the people’s bread, does not reach the people’s milk.
When my opponent says he is going to cut 250 billion reais, that there will be a huge slash, society needs to start asking where that cut will come from. They always cut from the poor.
Unlike the rest of the world, gasoline in Brazil has gone down today, because we are using the money from the oil that Petrobras exports.
Sources
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