New Delhi: Responding to an op-ed by Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the former president of Brazil, claiming Luiz Inácio 'Lula' da Silva's "vision" of the South American country "is a damaging fiction," Brazilian diplomat Celso Amorim has stated that "Lula is by far the preferred candidate of most Brazilians".

Amorim, who served as ambassador to the UK under Cardoso 16 years ago, has also expressed his disappointment with the "bitterness with which the former president describes Lula’s fight to prove his innocence".

Cardoso, who served as Brazil's president from 1995 to 2002, said that while Lula has a right to defend his point of view regarding the legal proceedings, the manner in which he has chosen to defend himself to the world "needs to be challenged". Cardoso added that Lula has a "peculiar version of the past few decades of Brazilian history in which he sometimes appears as the people’s saviour and sometimes as the victim of an “elite” conspiracy."

"It lends itself, inadvertently, to the delegitimisation of the collective effort that is the foundation of Brazilian democracy."

Disagreeing with this view, Amorim said after Lula was elected in 2002 – by a comfortable margin – there was sustained "prosperity" and "greater social justice" for the next eight years.

"This was reflected in levels of popularity never attained by any other Brazilian president. Lula’s policies inspired respect and admiration throughout the world."

A number of "jurists, statesmen and intellectuals" said Amorim, have called for ensuring Lula's "freedom and his right to run for the presidency" which they say are crucial for the consolidation of democracy in Brazil.

On August 31, the country's top court barred Lula from running for re-election due to his corruption conviction. Six of seven justices, reported CNN, had held that the former president was ineligible to run in October, when the country goes to polls.

Lula is a founding member of Brazil's only socialist political party, Partido dos Trabalhadores, the Workers' Party, and has served two terms as president between 2003 and 2011. The 72-year-old has been a clear front-runner in all opinion polls held so far.

Lula has been in prison since he surrendered to the federal police in April. Since then, politicians from his party and supporters have held rallies throughout the country calling for his release and claiming his innocence.

Lula's ineligibility to run for president, stated Cardoso, is a result of a popular initiative which after receiving one million signatures was approved by the Congress and then "signed into law by the former president himself in 2010."

"The so-called clean slate law (lei da ficha limpa), the result of a civil society campaign against corruption, prohibits anyone convicted at the appeals court level from running for office," he stated.

The former president said that presenting Lula's conviction as part of "targeted campaign in Brazil to persecute specific individuals" is a grave distortion of reality. "My country deserves more respect."

In response, citing UNHRC's request to Brazil to take  “all the necessary measures” to ensure Lula’s political rights, Amorim stated that the country's judicial authorities now faces the challenge of standing by their "repeated proclamations of respect for international norms concerning human rights."

Text of Celso Amorim's letter:

I write in response to the op-ed by Brazil’s former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, under whom 16 years ago I was serving as ambassador to the UK (“ Lula’s vision of Brazil is a damaging fiction”, August 22).

After Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was elected president of Brazil in October 2002, having beaten his rival, who belonged to the same party as Mr Cardoso, by a very comfortable margin, eight years of sustained prosperity coupled with greater social justice ensued. This was reflected in levels of popularity never attained by any other Brazilian president. Lula’s policies inspired respect and admiration throughout the world.

Unlike some neocons of the George W Bush era, who in 2002 thought a Lula victory would put Brazil in the “axis of evil”, Mr Cardoso is a highly intelligent and cultivated person, a renowned sociologist, who was responsible for the so-called dependency theory, at one point very popular in academic circles. He was one of the main leaders of the political movement that resulted in the end of the military dictatorship.

As someone who dreamt of a democratic Brazil, I had never imagined that the day would come in which a true representative of the working class would become president. It is with disappointment that I see the bitterness with which the former president describes Lula’s fight to prove his innocence.

Lula is by far the preferred candidate of most Brazilians. A great number of jurists, statesmen and intellectuals around the world have stressed that Lula’s freedom and his right to run for the presidency are essential for the consolidation of democracy in Brazil.

On August 17, the UN Human Rights Committee requested Brazil take “all the necessary measures” to ensure Lula’s political rights while appeals are still pending. Our judicial authorities now face the “challenge” to make good their repeated proclamations of respect for international norms concerning human rights.

Celso Amorim
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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