President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva used Brazil's Independence Day address on Sunday (Sept. 6) to declare that the country "is not, and will never be, anyone's colony." The speech aired on national radio and television and centered on sovereignty, with what G1 described as indirect criticism of the tariffs the United States has imposed on Brazilian products.

"We need to stay strong and unbowed, without lowering our heads, so that Brazil does not once again become a colony of foreign powers. We are not, and we will not be, anyone's colony," Lula said.

The president also spelled out his definition of a sovereign state. "A sovereign country is one able to defend its territory, its borders, its environment, its wealth and its people from any foreign interests," he said. He then defended free trade. "No foreign ruler has the right to tell us whom we can buy from, and whom we can sell to. We are a sovereign country, and our decisions belong to us and to no one else." The newspaper Folha de S.Paulo read the lines as indirect messages to U.S. President Donald Trump, who has rejected Jair Bolsonaro's conviction for attempting a coup and has voiced support for Flávio Bolsonaro's campaign.

Rare earths and oil

Lula also cited rare earths mining and oil exploration at the mouth of the Amazon River. He noted that the Senate had approved a bill creating the National Policy on Critical and Strategic Minerals, with a guarantee fund and 5 billion reais in tax credits to encourage ore processing in Brazil. "We hold the world's second largest rare earths reserve, and the largest source of fresh water. Last month we discovered a new and rich oil reserve. These riches must serve the future of the Brazilian people," he said. Folha reports that the minerals debate entered the campaign after Ronaldo Caiado, a rival presidential candidate, proposed a partnership with the United States to mine them in his state, Goiás.

Electoral court clearance

Because Brazil holds presidential elections in October, the presidential communications office asked the Superior Electoral Court, the TSE, for permission to broadcast the address. The court's president, Justice Kassio Nunes Marques, authorized it on Friday (Sept. 4), writing that the broadcast "is in the public interest" because the holiday "is part of Brazil's official calendar and carries historical and institutional meaning of its own, apart from the functions of government."

Folha notes that sovereignty and strategic minerals have become core themes of Lula's re-election bid. The speech came exactly four weeks before the first round of the presidential election, set for Oct. 4.