Lula’s Bitter Irony: The Fuel Price Crisis He Once Blamed on Bolsonaro Is Now His Own Failure
By Hotspotnews
In March 2022, then-candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took to social media with a blistering attack on President Jair Bolsonaro. He declared that Brazilians struggling to cook because of cooking gas prices, unable to drive because of gasoline costs, or truckers crushed by diesel expenses deserved to know the truth: “This fight is theirs. And the responsibility is the president’s, who blames others.”
Lula left no doubt. High fuel prices were not the result of global markets, supply chains, or international events. They were the personal failure of the sitting president, who, in Lula’s words, simply shifted blame instead of delivering relief to the Brazilian people.
Fast-forward to March 2026. Under Lula’s own presidency, Brazil is facing the exact same pain he once weaponized against his predecessor. Global oil prices have spiked amid escalating conflict in the Middle East, driving up the cost of gasoline and diesel. Petrobras, the state-controlled giant, announced a R$0.38 per liter increase in diesel prices for distributors effective March 14—pushing the average refinery price to R$3.65 per liter. Reports from across the country show diesel prices at distributors surging as much as 8 to 13 percent in the first weeks of March, with some regions seeing pump prices jump by up to R$0.80 per liter before any mitigation.
The Lula government scrambled to respond. On March 12, it rushed out tax exemptions on diesel and a new subsidy program projected to cost taxpayers R$30 billion through the end of the year. Officials claimed these measures would shave R$0.64 off the liter at the pump. Yet even after the intervention, net increases are still hitting consumers, and Petrobras proceeded with its hike anyway. The administration’s explanation? The war abroad made it necessary. Sound familiar?
This is precisely the scenario Lula once condemned as presidential incompetence. Where is the accountability he demanded in 2022? Instead of owning the vulnerability that still leaves Brazilian families and truckers at the mercy of foreign shocks, his government points fingers at international events while spending billions in public money to paper over the problem. The same president who lectured Bolsonaro about “not blaming others” is now doing exactly that—while ordinary Brazilians once again feel the squeeze at the gas station and the dinner table.
Worse, Lula has failed to deliver the structural change he implicitly promised. After four years in power, Brazil remains dangerously exposed to global oil volatility. The heavy reliance on imports and the lack of deeper domestic energy independence mean that any international disruption immediately translates into higher costs for the people. Rather than reforming policies to shield the economy long-term, the response is short-term subsidies and tax gimmicks—classic big-government bandaids that burden future generations with debt and do nothing to fix the underlying weakness.
Bolsonaro’s administration faced its own global headwinds and managed price spikes through targeted interventions without the same level of fiscal recklessness now on display. Lula, however, spent years campaigning on the idea that he would fix what his rival supposedly broke. The result? The same suffering he once exploited for political gain is back under his watch, and the excuses are identical to the ones he ridiculed.
The Brazilian people are not fools. They remember the fiery 2022 rhetoric. They see the 2026 reality. High fuel prices are not a partisan game—they are a daily burden on families, farmers, and truckers trying to survive. When the very leader who demanded presidential responsibility now dodges it with subsidies and foreign scapegoats, the hypocrisy is impossible to ignore.
Lula once told the nation the president must answer for fuel prices. Today, that president is him. The question Brazilians are asking is simple: Mr. President, where is the accountability you demanded from others? The silence speaks volumes.