Andres Oppenheimer. Posted on Thu, Aug. 22, 2002 in
The Miami Herald.
SAO PAULO - Luiz Inacio ''Lula'' da Silva, the leftist candidate leading in
the polls for Brazil's Oct. 6 presidential election, has substantially moderated
his rhetoric on domestic issues. But judging from some of his answers during a
recent question-and-answer session, some of his foreign policy views remain
tainted by 1960s anti-Americanism.
I don't believe -- like former Reagan administration aide Constantine Menges
-- that da Silva would impose a radical leftist regime in Brazil or that he
would forge an ''axis of evil'' with Venezuela and Cuba if he were elected.
That's highly unlikely to happen.
Da Silva is smart enough to know that Brazil would have a lot to lose by
poking its fingers in the eyes of the United States and the European Union, its
biggest customers.
In addition, the Brazilian Congress, the business community and the strings
attached to the $30 billion International Monetary Fund loan package will force
da Silva -- or whoever becomes Brazil's next president -- to maintain fiscal
discipline in order to get the bulk of the money disbursed over the next three
years.
I also agree with da Silva -- and the other three leading candidates, for
that matter -- that the Bush administration's recent subsidies to the U.S. steel
and farming industries will hurt Brazil's exports and make a mockery of the U.S.
government's free-trade rhetoric.
But when it comes to Cuba, da Silva is stuck in the past. Unlike most
democratic leftist leaders in the world, who criticize both the U.S. economic
sanctions against the island and Fidel Castro's failure to allow political
freedoms, da Silva is still reluctant to speak out for democracy in that
country.
Asked about Cuba, da Silva said: "I have been in Cuba many times over
the past 20 years and I don't hide the fact that I consider myself a friend of
Cuba, and an admirer of the Cuban people -- a people with an enormous
self-esteem [who have] not given up in the face of problems and adversities, and
[who pay] a big price for it.''
NOBODY KNOWS
Really? How does da Silva know what the Cuban people want? How can anyone
know, given the fact that for the past 43 years, opposition parties have been
banned on the island, and not one Cuban critic of the Maximum Leader has been
allowed on radio or television or in the state-controlled press?
How can da Silva, a former labor union leader, be friends with a regime that
doesn't allow independent labor unions? Asked specifically whether, in addition
to his condemnation of the U.S. embargo, he would criticize the absence of
democracy in Cuba, da Silva said, "Naturally, the fact of having a
friendship with Cuba doesn't mean that I or the Workers Party agree with
everything they do. In one of my last trips, I had the opportunity to publicly
tell Fidel Castro that, for us, Cuba is not a model, just as the United States
or France are not models.''
In other words, he skipped the question. Top aides to da Silva say this is
because the Workers Party has a policy of nonintervention in other countries'
internal affairs.
Baloney. If that's true, why did he lash out against the United States and
''North American protectionism'' throughout his responses? How can one be a true
democrat criticizing Washington and Latin American rightist dictators of the
past but not the region's leftist dictator of the present?
In his responses, da Silva also played loose with the facts.
Explaining his reasons to oppose the U.S.-supported plan to create a
hemisphere-wide Free Trade Area of the Americas, which he said would bring about
an ''annexation'' of the region to the U.S. economy, da Silva said, "a
study done by the Brazilian Embassy in Washington found that Brazilian exports
to the United States pay an average tariff of 45 percent, while U.S. exports to
Brazil pay an average of 15 percent.''
WORLDWIDE FIGURE
In fact, the Brazilian Embassy report said that Brazil's and the United
States' top 20 exports to the world -- not to each other -- pay an average of 45
percent and 15 percent, respectively. ''The study refers to worldwide exports,''
said Brazil's ambassador to Washington, Rubens Barbosa.
Da Silva deserves credit for his long-time activism for Brazil's millions of
poor people, his reputation for honesty and his recent shift toward the center.
I just wish he would join other modern socialist parties in the world and
criticize undemocratic practices, whatever their ideological sign.
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