The Cuban Embassy in Brazil categorized the story that appears on the cover of this week’s edition of the news magazine Veja as "slander" and "defamation."
In an official note released on Saturday, October 29, the embassy claims that there is a "campaign of lies against Cuba and the Brazilian government." Through its embassy, the Cuba government declares that it never interfered in Brazilian domestic affairs.
In an interview with Veja, two ex-advisers to the municipal government of Ribeirão Preto during the mayoral administration of the current minister of Finance, Antonio Palocci, affirmed having heard that the Cuban government sent funds for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s election campaign in 2002.
One of the ex-advisers, Rogério Buratti, said he was approached by Ralf Barquete, finance secretary in Palocci’s government. According to Buratti, Barquete was looking for a way to bring US$ 3 million from Cuba.
"I know that the money arrived, but I don’t know how," Buratti affirmed, according to the magazine. Barquete died last year.
The other ex-adviser, Vladimir Poleto, stated that he had transported three cases of liquor with him on a flight from Brasília to Campinas, in the interior of São Paulo. There he delivered them to Barquete, who reportedly commented that the cases contained US$ 1.4 million.
Agência Brasil
