Lula defends nuclear submarine and says Brazil cannot remain 'with its head down forever'

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has strongly defended the completion of Brazil's nuclear submarine project, framing it as a critical issue of national sovereignty. Speaking at the Nuclear Industry Industrial Center of Aramar in Iperó, São Paulo, Lula asserted that Brazil must not remain "with its head down forever" and pledged to secure the resources needed to finalize the Navy's principal nuclear energy initiative.

His remarks come nearly three months after the government reduced the Ministry of Defense's budget by R$ 4.4 billion. Lula argued that true national sovereignty is demonstrated through strength and readiness to assert Brazil's position on the global stage, stating, "We do not have national sovereignty because we make speeches. Speech is just words... We have to be prepared so they know we will have the strength to say no. We will have a voice to say: let's compete."

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We do not have national sovereignty because we make speeches. Speech is just words, which the adversary sometimes doesn't even hear. We have to be prepared so they know we will have the strength to say no. We will have a voice to say: let's compete. What we cannot do is have a country this size with its head down forever.

The president believes that completing the submarine program would elevate Brazil's international standing, potentially granting it a seat on the UN Security Council, a long-standing foreign policy objective for his party. Defense Minister José Múcio Monteiro echoed this sentiment, highlighting the project's potential for Brazil to become a technology exporter and praising Lula's leadership in driving the initiative forward.

During his visit, which also included the construction area for the Brazilian Multipurpose Reactor aimed at quadrupling the SUS's capacity for producing cancer medications, Lula also commented on Petrobras President Magda Chambriard, referring to her as a "magnate" and comparing her to the "Queen of Saudi Arabia" following the discovery of oil in the Equatorial Margin. Lula has increasingly emphasized issues of sovereignty, defense, and energy in his recent speeches, linking them to global geopolitics and citing potential international instability.

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You are the great helmsman of these submarines that will come out of here.