Brazzil

It does appear that the government under Lula's lead has not made the grand steps that are necessary "to remove Brazil from the centenarian hands of the aristocratic oligarchy and reorient the future of the country." But, is not the political structure set up to be malleable, but not fluid? Brazil didn't elect a dictator. He's required to build and work with coalitions, isn't he? In that case, change is necessarily slower than one might hope. Isn’t that true? Or am I misunderstanding the power that Lula actually has to make change in this democracy?

it seems that lula has failed to live up to the promise to redistribute land to the campesinos.

even right wing cardose gave more land to the campesinos and the indigenous peoples.

I think lula has become a supporter of the right wing oligarchy. thus, lula may have become a traitor to the true principals of the PT party. what a shame for brazil!!!!

lula is a sellout to the oligarchy, the IMF, the bastard republican gringos, and the blanco/criollo/white oligarchy of brazil.

How can one party repair the demages caused by the legacy of decades of corruption and neglect in 3 years? I am not a PT militant but I think it's still early to condemend or blame the Lula's administration for not making deep changes in the governmental actions. The PT has grown up and got to power because people, workers, social movements, groups organized, etc struggled for it. They wanted to change the course of the history, to finish with years of dictatorship, corruption and poverty. And what now that the PT has the power? We can not sit back and wait for them to bring in our lives the changes that we desperate seek. The fight is not over, now that the dialogue with the government seems to be possible we need to make our opinions get across. To be fair, Lula's administration has done a good job so far, and we all know that it is not enough but big changes only will come if we participate in the process, demanding and doing our job as citizens.

Unfortunately these things do not happen overnight. Let's face it, the power holders are not going to give up the power overnight. This is true not only in Brazil but all over the world. Look at America, 40 years after the civil rights movement, most American blacks are poor or working class. A few have made gains but not many. Ten years after the fall of apartheid and even with two black presidents, South African blacks are still a far cry from equality.

The wrongs of 500 years will not be undone in a day or even ten years largely because the wealthy will give the poor a few benefits but for the most part they are not going to part with their wealth.

The PT experiment has been a failure. What Sr. Buarque fails to mention is the continued poundng that the PT continues to recieve in the press, elections, and even the middle and lower classes that brought the PT to power. Like Chavez, as well as President's in Ecuador and now Uraguay, the leftist's fail to realize that any success in the region will depend on Brasil's ability to reduce governmental red tape, taxes, and interest rates and compete in a free market enviroment. The leftest polices of protectionism continue to oppress her people. Lula was elected on his carisma and rhetoric, to bad he did not know the first thing about governing and administration. The PT continues to put Lula on the pedestal as an uneducated worker who rose to the countries greatest position of power. Too bad the middle class Brasilians, as well as the "elite" who create jobs continue to apoligize to the rest of the world for him. Brasil is in a dangerous spiral, the only thing preventing a crash is a strong US economy. Now. as the US economy softens, and inflation rises due to high oil prices, Brasil's economy will crash and burn before the year is out.

Brasil is in better shape than it's been in years and continues to improve. The PT led government is slowly tackling corruption and poverty. Economic growth of around 5%. Failure? No, not by a long shot.

What have you done to make Brazil a better nation for its citizens? If you are brazilian and think that Brazil is a failure, why don't you do something to help turn it over? I know that Brazil is far from having a fair distribution of wealth but I am holpeful that some day in the future it will happen, if not for me but for my children or grandchildren. Why Brazil is a failure if today I can see hope in people's eye, I hear people who were unemployed 2 years ago, saying that now with they job they can make plans for the future. I agree that things are going slowly but at least they are going, and corruption that was the machine's money for many politicians and "business' men" is getting updated. I believe Brazil is not a failure and will never be.