|
 Let’s begin with the diagnosis issued last week by President Lula, one of the few members of the Workers Party who has managed to keep calm. According to him, those who wake up in a bad mood, selling pessimism, don’t get very far. The problem is that the majority of his party is behaving that way.
Nervousness and irritation have become trademarks at the Workers Party’s national headquarters and among candidates in the municipal runoff elections. With all due respect, add to it the fact that they have demonstrated certain doses of ignorance.
The Workers Party Can’t Take Defeat
In Porto Alegre, the once favorite and now second place, Raul Pont, filed an appeal to the Electoral Justice to disenfranchise the registration of rival José Fogaça.
Accusation: giving out candies to children, on Children’s Day (in Brazil, October 12 is officially declared so), by Dr. Brasinha – the alternate to the Workers Party’s councilman – who for 16 years has dedicated himself to this act of humanity.
It’s impossible to ignore the evidence that the recourse was brought forth because Pont has 39% of the votes, while Fogaça, 51%. In the petition, a symptom of the Workers Party candidate’s pessimism was the request that Fogaça not be sworn in or allowed to take office, in the “event of victory”.
In São Paulo, the Electoral Justice barred the Workers Party campaign to exhibit ads attacking Governor Geraldo Alckmin, main supporter of the opposition’s José Serra.
It really is the distaste, powered by Mayor Marta Suplicy, which persists in personal attacks against the opponent and his group.
The mayor went so far as to making the absurd call that the federal government will only release municipal funds if local plans and programs of the person occupying city hall are in step with the administration.
President Lula didn’t like the comment a bit and asked the Minister of Political Coordination, Aldo Rebello, to put on the fireman’s uniform and deny any such discrimination from the federal government to opposition mayors.
It has become clear that the Workers Party candidates in Porto Alegre and São Paulo aren’t moving forward.
Assuming their defeat, these candidates will go down in political annals as out-of-touch and will – certainly – be compromising their own future.
One of the germs - from which President Lula has yet to be inoculated - affecting the Workers Party is that they cannot take being defeated.
Well, have they forgotten who lost three consecutive times the presidential race, only to come out atop on the fourth attempt?
Dangerous Crisis
A big storm has been brewing over the latest photos of Wladimir Herzog (the professor and journalist, arrested in 1975 by the military regime, for alleged ties to the Brazilian Communist Party), assassinated in the dungeons of the repression.
Odd is the fact the House Commission on Human Rights did not release the photos earlier, since the prints had been in their possession for a long time.
Much reaction was generated from the Army’s response, denying the existence of the documents that proved the participation of the DOI-Codis (intelligence agencies during the authoritarian regime) in this episode, because all the material had been incinerated long ago.
The President demanded explanations from Defense Minister José Viegas, for the tone of the response, which was signed by the Army Social Communication Center, considering all the measures legitimate actions to combat the violence. The Minister bailed himself out, announcing that the note had been issued against his will.
The problem doesn’t rest in the dichotomy within the Armed Forces, justifying actions that they claim to have been legal, back in the years of confrontation, and those who surged against the dictatorship, many of them in power today.
Such systoles and diastoles will continue until time takes away the last standing players. The potential imminent crisis lies in the fact that, for months, the real item on the agenda has been the replacement of Defense Minister Viegas.
In order to accommodate obscure circumstances within the administration, rumors of the Minister of Political Coordination, Aldo Rebello, moving to the Defense Ministry have been going around.
Cabinet Chief, José Dirceu, would then be more at ease accumulating the offices of Political and Administrative Coordination. Aldo Rebello, from the Communist Party of Brazil, never denied his origins.
He didn’t participate, but supported, the Araguaia Guerilla. How plausible then for Army, Navy, and Air Force commanders to salute a communist, chief of all three branches? This is where the danger resides, in case one of the military commanders cannot accept that.
Worth noting, however, with the exception of the response from the Army Social Communication Center, the Armed Forces have conducted themselves in an exemplary style in this new era; in fact, even taking some dirt in a stand up way. What a shame would be if the process of democratic affirmation were to deteriorate, even rhetorically.
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 Eduardo Assumpção de Queiroz. He is a freelance translator, with a degree in Business and almost 20 years of experience working in the fields of economics, communications, social and political sciences, and sports. He lives in Boca Raton, Florida. His email: eaqus@adelphia.net.
 |
Info 
Subscribe to this comment's feed