Brazil: Traditional Political Conspiracy

The behind-the-scenes political manoeuvring in Brazil will put the political courage of the people to the test in next October’s presidential election. The big question is: who rules Brazil, the people or the foreign investors?

The candidate who has the interests of the Brazilian people in mind is Luis Inacio Lula da Silva (Lula), a Trade Unionist who represents the PT (Partido dos Trabalhadores), currently leading the opinion polls with 35% of voting intentions.

Fearing that the prospect of a Lula presidency would frighten off foreign investors (and with them their commissions), the “establishment” conducts its traditional manoeuvring into a united block, trying to form a united front involving the PSDB (Social Democrats), PFL (Liberals) and PMDB (Democratic Movement). This would substantially increase the chances of a joint right-wing candidate beating Lula in an election, giving the candidate the right to far more media coverage and vaster resources to pump into the campaign.

The candidate favoured to succeed President Fernando Henrique Cardoso has been Jose Serra, from the same party (PSDB). However, his involvement in the raid on the office of Liberal candidate Roseana Sarney (daughter of ex-President Jose Sarney), which led to her dropping out of the presidential race, caused resentment in the PFL, whose President, Jorge Bornhausen, has requested president Fernando Henrique Cardoso to change his option for candidate from Jose Serra to another, who would be supported by the PFL.

Should President Cardoso agree, the candidates for the short-list will be Aecio Neves, president of the Chamber of Deputies and Tasso Jereissati, the ex-governor of Ceara, either of whom would enjoy the joint support of the PSDB, PMDB and PFL.

As usual, the right-wing establishment, which controls 95% of Brazil’s vast wealth while 40,000,000 live below the poverty line on one USD per day or less, pulls together to give the hard shoulder to the one and only candidate who would give the Brazilian people a chance to realise their true potential over the ruling clique which holds them down.

It remains to be seen whether the people of Brazil have the courage to become the stakeholders in the future of their nation, giving voice to the words “Order” and “Progress” on their national flag.

MARCIA MIRANDA PRAVDA.Ru BRAZIL