NEWS FROM BRAZIL supplied by SEJUP (Servico
Brasileiro de Justica e Paz).
Number 478, October 24, 2002.
-Free Trade Act of the Americas and the Brazilian Presidential Elections
The election for the President of Brazil is now only a week away. A poll
taken this week by IBOPE shows Luis Ignacio 'Lula' da Silva (PT, Workers´
Party) with 66% and José Serra (PSDB, Social Democratic Party) with 34%.
This poll was requested by Datafolha. Other polls (Globo, Vox Populi) show
the same results. Luis Ignacio 'Lula' da Silva is well in front in the race
for president
.
In the Oct.13 edition of the Miami Herald, the sub-secretary of the U.S.
Commerce Department, Robert Zoellick, sent a harsh message to the
Brazilian government (presumably to the next government that will be
elected on Sunday, Oct. 26th). Zoellick stated that Brazil has a choice: to
accept ALCA (Área de Livre Comércio da Américas) or to go sell their
products in Antarctica, a region without markets, as everyone knows. Mr.
Zoellick is quoted in the Miami Herald edition as saying, "We (US) wish to
make the first offer of partnership in ALCA to Latin America, because they
are close partners. But, if they (referring to an eventual future Lula
government) decide that they want to go in another direction, if they wish
to take the southern route to Antarctica, then we will look to the east and
the west."
The following day, at The Conference of the Americas sponsored by the Miami
Herald, Mr Zoellick gave the same message in his talk without mentioning
Antarctica. He tried to minimize the fact that support for ALCA is wearing
thin in the Latin America region and, in particular, there is growing
opposition in Brazil.
The plebiscite on ALCA taken in early September of this year indicated that
94% of the 10 million Brazilians who voted see ALCA as a annexation of
Brazil by the United States. A high functionary in the US government when
asked what he thought about this belief on the part of many Brazilians,
said that ALCA is a choice for Brazil and not an imperative. It is an
opportunity for Brazil, not an annexation of Brazil.
The Workers' Party candidate, Luis Ignacio 'Lula' da Silva, said that he
would not comment on the talk of Mr. Zoellick as he doesn't know him.
Later in the day, when the subject was brought up, again, he responded by
saying that he "will not respond to a sub of a sub of a sub-secretary in
the US government. There are many who make stupid statements about Brazil
and, God willing, later they will come to respect Brazil." When asked by a
correspondent of the newspaper, Folha de São Paulo, if it would not be
important for a candidate for the presidency to know who Mr. Zoellick is,
Lula responded that he does not believe that President Bush has the
obligation to know the names of those in the first or second level
government positions of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Lula said
that, if elected, he would be willing to meet with President Bush and talk
about ALCA on that high level - President to President.. It would be a talk
in which he would defend the interests of Brazil as President Bush defends
the interests of the US.
The newspaper, Folha de São Paulo, in its editorial for Oct. 16th, "Alca
or the Antarctica" states that the statement of the sub-secretary of the
U.S. Department of Commerce, Robert Zoellick, about adhesion of Brazil to
ALCA should be understood as a provocation.
Written by Daniel McLaughlin, Maryknoll missioner in São Paulo (Sources:
Folha de S. Paulo, October 15-16, 2002 and Miami Herald, October 15, 2002)
-Dollar Becomes Brazil Election Issue
Brazil´s presidential hopeful Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva sought to bolster
his credentials with jittery financial markets and business leaders last
week. Lula criticized the Central Bank´s decision on Monday to jack up
interest rates to 21 percent, a move likely to further quash consumption
and slow an already stagnating economy. "These are blind policies from an
economic team that doesn´t understand that the productive sector is the
only way Brazil will get out of the hole it´s in," Lula said. Silva, in
his fourth bid for the presidency, was quick to denounce the interest-rate
hike. "No country in the world progresses if the interest rates offered to
bankers are higher than the profits of a company that´s producing. Interest
rates cannot be the attraction and the motivation for investment," said
Silva.
Top officials from Lula´s Workers´ Party unveiled their plan to strengthen
a stock exchange decimated by waning interest. Lula also met with business
leaders in the industrial suburbs of São Paulo, home to Brazil´s auto
industry and the organized labor movement that propelled him into national
politics in the late 1970s.
Although he has toned down his once fiery rhetoric, some investors are
still worried that Lula may not be up to the task of managing Latin
America´s largest economy and may push it closer to defaulting on its $265
billion public debt. Brazil´s currency, the real, hit an all-time low of
4.0-per-dollar a week ago and the stock market has sunk to levels last seen
in February 1999, when the country was reeling from a major currency
devaluation.
Lula´s proposals hope to give markets a key role in reviving an economy
which outgoing President Fernando Henrique Cardoso opened to foreign trade.
Growth has been weak and unemployment is rising. The Workers´ Party
endorses general tenets such as the need to develop Brazil´s private
pension funds, revitalize the economy, improve the tax system in favor of
capital markets, and better protect minority investors.
However, the main priority of Silva´s platform is to create jobs and
revitalize the economy. Congressman Ricardo Beerzoini, a member of
Silva´s Workers Party stated that "We want to make it clear that when we
talk about capital markets we´re talking about financing production and
jobs."
(Source: Informes Brasil, October 21, 2002)
The reproduction of this material is permitted as long as the source is
cited.
The reproduction of this material is permitted as long as the source is cited. If you wish to contact us, send a message to braziljusticenet@braziljusticenet.org. If you wish to be removed from our email list, go to http://braziljusticenet.org/subscribe.htm, type in your email address, and click "unsubscribe" button.