By law, the Brazilian political party that receives foreign resources will have its registration cancelled. This principle, instituted decades ago, was established to let the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB) in the defensive, but it remains in force and could hit Lula's Workers Party (PT) in the head now.

There are rumors in the Federal Capital Brasília, that the PT received money from Lybia's dictator Muammar Gadafi in the last presidential campaign.

If it can be proved that this money served to help President Lula's ascension to power, there is only one conclusion: the President's election will be considered null and void, in other words, the impeachment process should be opened immediately.

This seems to be the main concern of the government. There will be no shock troop able to help if the donation, which is being investigated now by the Parliamentary Inquiry (CPI) of the Post Office. can be verified.  Senator Álvaro Dias and House Representative Gustavo Fruet seem to have already gone a long way in their attempt to discover this new conduit of irregular resources.

This time,  the media will not be able to ignore the accusation, as it happened a year and a half ago when we reported the existence of a Marcos Valério, who from Belo Horizonte, through his publicity agencies, irrigated with suitcases and handbags stacks the bank accounts of parties and legislators, in exchange for support for the formation of the government's parliamentary majority.

Now it is more serious. In case the existence of Libyan money in Lula's campaign is confirmed, it will not matter whether the winning candidate was aware or not of those activities. If he didn't know he should have known. And if he knew, worse yet.

Big Decisions

The opposition parties main leaders and directors gathered yesterday, at 5 pm, in the Congress. They examined President Lula's impeachment request first draft, without taking any decision however.

Cautious, they were not ready to close the matter, understanding that despite so many accusations there isn't a favorable feeling to the initiative from the Brazilian public opinion as of yet.

Neither from the public opinion nor from themselves, because removing a President elected by 62% of the electorate can keep hinder the survival of Congress itself. Without mentioning the consequences for the economy and the institutions.

Anyway, the proposal exists and will be able to prosper, in case there are new proof and evidence that the PT surpassed all ethical and common-sense limits, in recent years.

The climate is the worst possible, in the oppositions, since their leaders also do not wish to be overtaken by the facts. The ideal, for PSDB, PFL and PDT, would be to carry a weakened President Lula through the end of his mandate, incapable of seeking re-election. Since the crisis has acquired its own dynamics, the best thing it to wait and see.

Parallel with Pelé

When receiving CUT's (Workers Unified Confederation) expressive homage, last week, president Lula seemed more like a shadow of what he used to be.

Downcast, hearing without listening to the successive exhortation and praise speeches, the President gave the impression of regretting the ceremony itself, especially when the membership intoned slogans in his homage and in favor of his re-election.

The general discomfort was even more evident when Lula, in thanking, on the spur of the moment, mentioned the drama lived by Pelé, citizen above any suspicion, but hit by his son's foolery, still in jail for being accused of involvement with narcotrafickers.

Any student of the first year of psychology would conclude that  the president was referring to himself, not to yesterday's greatest soccer hero.

It hovered over the auditorium the shadow of an unusual operation of 5 million reais (US$ 2.1 million) that Telemar telecommunications brought to the small company of one of Lula's children. You cannot say the situation is the same.

There's nothing illegal in the fact that a megacompany wishes to help promising young people to develop an activity capable of, in the future, to open opportunities to all. But would Telemar act as Santa Claus for an electronic game company for cell phone if the firm didn't have as partner the President's son?

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.

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