Businessman Junior Peixoto, 41, gained unexpected fame last week. Participating in an antidemocratic act that rejects the victory of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) over Jair Bolsonaro (PL), his image clinging to a moving truck went viral on social media.
Since then, Peixoto has been known as the “truck patriot”. And he became a meme.
In an interview with Sheet on Monday (7), he says he feels exposed with the repercussion of the images.
The video, recorded on a highway in Pernambuco, shows the businessman wearing a yellow shirt and cap in the same color and a demonstration in Caruaru last Wednesday (2).
When questioned, he said he prefers not to comment on topics such as the result of the 2022 elections, which resulted in Lula’s victory.
“I think it’s a very delicate topic for an ordinary citizen, who doesn’t have any kind of immunity, to touch on this subject. I’m a Bolsonaro voter, if there’s the opportunity for him to plead a campaign again, I’ll vote for him, I’ll campaign, I’ll do whatever it takes. possible, because he represents me. But the movement itself is no longer for Bolsonaro. The movement itself is for Brazil”, he says.
A resident of Caruaru, located in the countryside of Pernambuco, Peixoto says that he hung on the truck as a form of defense, and not to try to prevent the vehicle from passing through a roadblock on the BR-232.
He stated that he had arrived at the site a short time before and that he went there to bring food and water to the participants.
Also according to Peixoto, upon reaching the blockade, the protesters were talking about clearing one of the two lanes of the highway. Tires and stones began to be removed to allow vehicles to pass.
“So when they started to release I heard the driver put the truck in gear. I turned to him and waved. I was 2 meters away from the truck and I gestured for a little patience. I don’t know if he got that wrong, thought he would close BR again, and then he sped up”, says the businessman.
According to Peixoto, as he already had his hands up and gesticulating, his immediate reaction was to grab the windshield wiper.
“Thank God I had this reaction, because today I could be dead. He accelerated the machine to my side and came with everything”, he said.
However, in the video that reports the case on social media, the truck driver says that “the guy went up there and said he won’t come down”.
According to the businessman, the material that was removed to clear the road began to be thrown by the protesters under the tires of the truck, in an attempt to stop it. And apparently the driver got scared and ended up accelerating more.
According to Peixoto, he traveled about 6 kilometers clinging to the truck, a journey that would have taken about eight minutes. He said he believed that, at some point, the vehicle had exceeded 100 km/h, which made him very scared.
“When the truck started to develop speed, I was sure I was going to die. I was convinced that this was my last day of life”, he said.
According to him, there was no dialogue with the driver at any time. “I stared at him, two or three times, and asked, ‘You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?’ Then, I think it started to weigh on his conscience and he started to stop.”
After getting out of the vehicle, in a section further away from the center, Peixoto claimed to have managed to get a ride back to the city and, later, to get home.
The businessman says that, even after getting out of the truck, there was no dialogue with the driver, who only stated that he had no interest in getting into trouble.
Only the next day, in the morning, the family became aware of what had happened, when a person shared the video with the businessman’s wife who, in shock, would have tried to understand exactly what happened.
“I would talk [com a família], but gradually. She wasn’t going to say everything at once. But the internet doesn’t forgive.”
Regarding the repercussion, he said that he has not been following the developments of the case on social media and that one of the reasons is the lack of skill.
“But I confess that I’m quite scared, because this is not my universe [redes sociais]. I felt exposed. There was even a website that publicized my name and my social media.”
Chad-98Weaver, a distinguished author at NewsBulletin247, excels in the craft of article writing. With a keen eye for detail and a penchant for storytelling, Chad delivers informative and engaging content that resonates with readers across various subjects. His contributions are a testament to his dedication and expertise in the field of journalism.
