Journalist Hélio Fernandes continues to be right – he says that somehow Brazil always manages to get worse than it was the day before. We have already written a great deal about the strategy of the multinationals and rich countries who want to keep Amazônia untouched, like a huge botanical garden.

That would be the first step towards internationalizing it, and sucking it dry, like vampires at a blood bank.

Well, isn’t it interesting that the government that is supposed to belong to the workers, has, under the pretext of developing Amazônia, found a way of not only burning the forest, but of skipping a few steps, and handing the region over to foreigners more quickly?

A Crime

At the moment, a project, which would privatize part of the public lands in Amazônia, more than half of its territory, opening them to development programs, is in the Casa Civil to have the final details worked out.

With a special clause: foreign companies will be able to participate in the purchases….what will be the result of this crime insulting the fatherland?

The multinationals and the governments of the rich countries will buy almost all of the territory, managing to internationalize it decades earlier, perhaps.

That Amazônia needs to be preserved without remaining untouched is a moot point, as is the fact that it also needs to be developed. This is a fundamental premise for the defense of Brazilian sovereignty.

Planning to let it be developed by those whose first intention is to keep it untouched, and then to transform it into an autonomous and independent nation is a crime for which someone ought to go to prison.

The project begins by planning for the privatization of 50 million hectares, with a production of 30 million cubic meters of wood per year, which would earn R$ 200 million in the first twelve months.

Plus the exploitation of other natural resources, such as medicinal and ornamental plants, fruits, resins, and doubtless, minerals from underground.

This could all be key to economic growth in Amazônia, were it not for the trap inserted in the text, probably its fundamental reason for being: the unrestricted access given to foreign capital.

For a proposal like this to have emerged during the government of the sociologist (former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso), would have made a certain amount of sense.

After all, they had not patriotism. But for a government of the workers, it would be madness, were it not already treason. Wake up, Minister Marina Silva!

Quota Fulfilled

From Valdomiro Diniz to the vampires of the Ministry of Health, from Agora company to the show financed by the Banco do Brasil for the construction of the new headquarters of the PT, from the fiscal omissions and the remittal  of resources overseas  by the presidents of the  Banco Central and the Banco do Brasil, to the firing of the director of the Central Bank’s Monetary Policy, Luiz Augusto Candiota,  many people have blamed the seven verified scandals on the PT administration.

It is true that others would double this number: fourteen irregularities, and not seven. But why not twenty-eight, if the investigations go all the way?

One thing is for sure: there have been enough already. Any further slip on the part of the federal government cannot be accepted.

From then on we would witness the crumbling of the moral authority of the government of a honest mechanic and metalworker, or else wait for Lula to follow the example of former President Itamar Franco, and begin to react. 

Any new accusations, even if not proven, demands the immediate removal of those involved. Let them defend themselves outside the protective net of their functions, and once proven innocent, let them return with pomp and circumstance.

What is not acceptable is for all of them, whether innocent or guilty, to remain, with their positions guaranteed by feelings of friendship, loyalty, commiseration or fear.

The exercise of power is cruel, or it ought to be, in order to preserve those who symbolize power. After all, in the cases mentioned, and in others, it is those involved in funny business who are the traitors. Not the one who trusted them, and was stabbed in the back.

Spies

In earlier times, and during earlier governments, there was unequivocal terror in public offices. Information that was secret, and almost always embarrassing,  since it was true, made it to the press, and upset those in power.

The situation was clear: in every ministry, department, or office, there were soldiers of the PT, who were specialized in keeping watch over public business, in revealing cases of corruption, photocopying documents, and passing them to the press.

It was a horror for those in charge. One was suspicious of one’s colleagues, and kept an eye who it was who stayed in the office after hours. The shadow of the PT made a lot of people lose sleep.

Now the situation is inverted. There will be no information from functionaries who are affiliated with or sympathetic to the PT. Is there now another spy network? 

Is it Tucano or liberal? Certainly it was already there, with moles waiting their chance. When the tables are turned, the consequences are more worrying….

Carlos Chagas writes for the Rio's daily Tribuna da Imprensa and is a representative of the Brazilian Press Association, in Brasília. He welcomes your comments at carloschagas@hotmail.com.

Translated from the Portuguese by Tom Moore. Moore has been fascinated by the language and culture of Brazil since 1994. He translates from Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian and German, and is also active as a musician. Comments welcome at querflote@hotmail.com.

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