Dear Pedro:
You talked about the complexity of the
Lula situation in particular and Brasilian politics in general.
Today I had lunch with a man from
Goiania. He started life in a favela. He now has an MBA from San Jose State
University. On the face of things, you would see him as a Lula supporter.
Here is a recap of what he told me over
lunch as follows:
1) Judge
Moro has six more criminal cases against Lula including one where he got a
luxury fazenda as a gift from a constituent.
2) As Lula
made cosmetic efforts to uplift the poor, he was helping the rich lavishly.
3) Lula
played "a shell game" to make it appear that Brasil was experiencing
an unprecedented economic boom. International investors believed this and
poured massive sums of money into Brasil.
4) He
briefed me on the political parties and the political structure. It would
appear that the only president in recent history with honesty was Cardoso.
In the US, there is a saying about lawyers
as follows: "A law license is a license to steal." In Brasil, one
could say: "Election to public office is a license to steal."
Most sad is that very little is being done
to help the truly poor.
With kindest
regards,
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