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 The ten commandments created by the PT (Workers Party) to shape Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in his campaign for reelection teeter on the verge of ridicule. They are all restrictive, more drastic than the similar Decalogue given Moses by God. If he obeys them, which seems doubtful, the candidate should rather cloister himself in an abandoned hut in Garanhuns and only come out after the election.
All because the PT does not want Lula exposed to situations of risk. They also want him to avoid trips to states where there are disagreement between the allies, to not give interviews, to only talk to the press when authorized by the campaign command, to not comment on subjects that are negative to the government, to not take part in debates, to act more as president than as candidate, to not appear in the campaign committee and to participate in few public acts. This is the perfect list to make any candidate lose an election. This is also a demonstration that the PT is frightened, fearful of the ballot boxes and the people. It's admissible that the party follows to the letter its own advice, since the ruling Workers Party should be embarrassed by mensalões (cash-for-vote scandal), Delúbios, Valérios, Dirceus and the rest of the gang. It's not right, however, to extend this same punishment to President Lula. Or did he know everything that was happening? Act of Bravery Finally, a courageous act by Congress. Senator Amir Lando, president of the Congressional Inquiry on the Sanguessugas (leeches) - those politicians accused of overbilling ambulances so that they could fill up their own pockets - promises to announce the names of all the congressmen charged in the CPI. This way, he reasons, they would be able to defend themselves from the accusation of having taken part in the overbilling of the ambulances delivered to their districts. They are 53 representatives and three senators. It's not a case of breaking the secrecy imposed by the Supreme Court of Justice, which prohibited the publication of the congressmen names. Naturally it all seems the same, but technically is something else. After all, representatives and senators are being notified to present their own defense, and they have five days to do this. The CPI does not accuse them, but it just asks them to explain the amendments they made to the budget in order to purchase the ambulances. Just yesterday many people were scrambling, trying to obtain from the Supreme assurances that the investigations would continue in secrecy. They want a judicial order to prevent the leaking of the names of those that were notified. This is a delicate matter because there are representatives who are innocent as well as there are those up to their necks in the sludge, having received kickbacks from the company in charge of manufacturing and selling the vehicles. By the way, a company considered a paradigm of modern capitalism. Very modest until a few years ago, from 2002 on it opened branches in 17 states, increasing one-thousand fold its revenue. Tourism Lula is back from Russia and what did he bring in his luggage? Magnificent imprints from the artistic collection of the Hermitage Museum, the Saint Isaac cathedral and from the one thousand bridges over the Neva River, in Saint Petersburg. He sure neither requested nor was offered to visit the now old-fashioned cruiser Aurora, which was responsible for firing the first shot in the 1917 revolution. Pure tourism. The presidents and prime-ministers of the planet's eight wealthiest nations heard once again the complaints of the poor world in face of the subsidies that they spread around their rural producers. Once again, they promised to study the matter, which, if solved, would help to lessen our agricultural hardship, allowing us to compete with them. Of course they will do nothing. One of these days they will need the votes to get reelected. In case they remove even a cent from the subsidies they dished out, they will lose the election, and this explains it all. Good-mannered, they greeted the Brazilian president the way they did three years ago, when Lula exhorted them to join in the program against hunger... Retaliation Time Whoever believes that the PMDB party president Michel Temer has settled all old scores with President Lula, after having announced that opposition candidate Geraldo Alckmin is his choice, is totally mistaken. The bill is much bigger than that. Temer is running for reelection in the House with a good chance of winning it. He has an ambition: to once again preside the Lower House. The tradition is that the party with the larger congressional delegation indicates the president of the House, and in the PMDB there isn't competition. Certainly Temer will not take with him his bitterness against President Lula to the House presidency, if he gets reelected. But in his tenure he can be expected to give more emphasis to the principle of independence between the powers. * Here's the PT Decalogue for President Lula: 1) Do not expose the candidate to risky situations. 2) Avoid trips to states in which there are disagreements between the allied parties. 3) Avoid interviews and press conferences. 4) Talk to the press only when the campaign chooses a specific 5) Do not comment on subjects that are negative for the government; leave this task preferably to the ministers 6) Always talk about positive themes. 7) Do not take part in debates. 8) Act more as President than as candidate. 9) Avoid the physical presence in the campaign committee. 10) Cool the campaign, taking part in few public acts, because the only ones interested in a hot dispute are the opponents. 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
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. Translated from the Portuguese by Arlindo Silva.
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