Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva once again called for increased defense spending on Tuesday during a Soldier's Day ceremony at Army headquarters in Brasília, according to O Globo and G1. In brief remarks to reporters after the event, Lula said defense 'cannot be something left for when there is money left over,' describing the sector as a priority for Brazilian policy.
According to G1, Lula pointed to the country's size and resources to justify the investment: 'This is a country with land and sea borders, forest reserves, critical minerals. We don't even know everything we have, oil. Defense cannot wait for leftover money, we have to prepare the country, not for war, but for peace, and to defend our territory and riches,' he said, per the outlet's report.
The ceremony also marked the first time female soldiers took part in a Soldier's Day military parade, a milestone Lula highlighted in his remarks. Also attending were Defense Minister José Múcio, Army commander Tomás Paiva, Supreme Federal Court (STF) chief justice Edson Fachin, and senior STF justice Gilmar Mendes, according to O Globo.
Rhetoric contrasts with budget figures
Despite the rhetoric, data from the Siga Brasil budget tracking system, cited by O Globo, show the Lula administration has actually spent 11% less on military investment than the previous government. Between 2023 and 2026, the current government earmarked 40.7 billion reais for investment in the Army, Navy and Air Force, compared with 45.7 billion reais spent by Jair Bolsonaro's government between 2019 and 2022.
Lula has made similar remarks in recent weeks. At the Workers' Party (PT) national convention in São Paulo earlier this month, where his reelection bid was formally endorsed, he urged the political left to stop this 'nonsense' of not prioritizing defense, citing Brazil's 16,800 kilometers of land border and 8,000 kilometers of coastline. The week before, during a visit to the Aramar Nuclear Industrial Center in Iperó, São Paulo state, he also pledged to secure funding to finish Brazil's first nuclear-powered submarine.
Asked by reporters about a Federal Police investigation involving his son, Fábio Luís Lula da Silva (known as Lulinha), and former chief of staff Marco Aurélio Santana Ribeiro, the president did not answer and left the venue, G1 reported. The matter has been raised repeatedly by Liberal Party (PL) presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, Lula's main rival in the election race.