Lula aide backs Argentina for BRICS, eyes role in Ukraine peace talks
Wed, October 19, 2022
By Flavia Marreiro and Brad Haynes
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's top foreign policy adviser supports the inclusion of Argentina in the BRICS group of developing nations, which could be a forum for negotiating peace in Ukraine, he told Reuters.
Celso Amorim, foreign minister during Lula's 2003-2010 presidency, had a hand in founding the BRICS group along with Russia, India and China. South Africa joined in 2011 and Argentina has been pushing to become the sixth member.
"It's good to have balance within the BRICS, to have a larger role for Latin America," Amorim said in an interview on Tuesday afternoon. "I think the eventual inclusion of Argentina would be positive."
Polls show Lula with a lead of roughly 5 percentage points ahead of an Oct. 30 runoff against President Jair Bolsonaro.
Amorim said he has not discussed any role in an eventual Lula government, but he continues to discuss policy matters regularly with the leftist former president.
Regarding the Ukraine war, he said Lula had the disposition and track record to contribute to peace talks.
"He has the conditions to take part in a negotiating effort, which needs to be led by the European Union and United States, but with the participation of China, obviously. Brazil can also be an important country, whose voice resonates in the developing world," Amorim said. "The BRICS as a group could help."
Amorim also said Lula would make Brazil a protagonist in global climate talks if elected, calling for a summit of Amazon rainforest nations in the first half of next year to discuss conservation efforts along with more developed nations.
A third Lula term would open the door for Brazil to re-engage diplomatically with neighboring Venezuela, Amorim said, adding that Bolsonaro and U.S. President Donald Trump achieved little by breaking off relations with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
"Isolation, sanctions, blockades, threats of force don't help at all. They only make things difficult," he said.
Asked about reports of human rights violations in Venezuela and Nicaragua, Amorim said: "We will do whatever we can in favor of democracy in a way that is respectful, non-interventionist and not arrogant."
(Reporting by Flavia Marreiro and Brad Haynes; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
Wed, October 19, 2022
By Flavia Marreiro and Brad Haynes
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's top foreign policy adviser supports the inclusion of Argentina in the BRICS group of developing nations, which could be a forum for negotiating peace in Ukraine, he told Reuters.
Celso Amorim, foreign minister during Lula's 2003-2010 presidency, had a hand in founding the BRICS group along with Russia, India and China. South Africa joined in 2011 and Argentina has been pushing to become the sixth member.
"It's good to have balance within the BRICS, to have a larger role for Latin America," Amorim said in an interview on Tuesday afternoon. "I think the eventual inclusion of Argentina would be positive."
Polls show Lula with a lead of roughly 5 percentage points ahead of an Oct. 30 runoff against President Jair Bolsonaro.
Amorim said he has not discussed any role in an eventual Lula government, but he continues to discuss policy matters regularly with the leftist former president.
Regarding the Ukraine war, he said Lula had the disposition and track record to contribute to peace talks.
"He has the conditions to take part in a negotiating effort, which needs to be led by the European Union and United States, but with the participation of China, obviously. Brazil can also be an important country, whose voice resonates in the developing world," Amorim said. "The BRICS as a group could help."
Amorim also said Lula would make Brazil a protagonist in global climate talks if elected, calling for a summit of Amazon rainforest nations in the first half of next year to discuss conservation efforts along with more developed nations.
A third Lula term would open the door for Brazil to re-engage diplomatically with neighboring Venezuela, Amorim said, adding that Bolsonaro and U.S. President Donald Trump achieved little by breaking off relations with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
"Isolation, sanctions, blockades, threats of force don't help at all. They only make things difficult," he said.
Asked about reports of human rights violations in Venezuela and Nicaragua, Amorim said: "We will do whatever we can in favor of democracy in a way that is respectful, non-interventionist and not arrogant."
(Reporting by Flavia Marreiro and Brad Haynes; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
Brazil's Lula issues letter to evangelicals to allay concern
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro embraces his wife, first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, during the annual Christian event March for Jesus, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug. 13, 2022. Bolsonaro is a Catholic, but his wife Michelle is a devout evangelical, and after avoiding the spotlight during most of her husband’s presidency, she emerged as the leading evangelical voice from Bolsonaro’s camp during the campaign. The presidential runoff election is set for Oct. 30. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado, File)More
MAURICIO SAVARESE
Wed, October 19, 2022
SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva published an open letter to evangelicals on Wednesday aimed at countering claims he would persecute their faith and at winning votes among a large and growing part of the population.
The letter, read at a gathering with evangelical leaders at a Sao Paulo hotel, promised he would respect religious freedoms if elected — as he did during his 2003-2010 presidency.
“We are living at a time in which lies are used intensively with the objective of stoking fear in people of good faith, pushing them away from a candidacy that is defending them more,” the letter said. “That is why I felt a need to reaffirm my commitment to freedom of religion in our country.”
Polls have shown da Silva losing support from evangelicals this year as incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and his allies have warned that the former president supports leftist authoritiarians elsewhere who have persecuted Christians.
They have sometimes literally demonized da Silva and his Workers' Party, prompting him to issue a bizarre statement this month denying he has ever conversed or dealt with the devil.
Da Silva topped the first round of presidential voting, falling less than two percentage points shy of an outright victory. Most polls show da Silva retaining a lead ahead of the Oct. 30 runoff, but with Bolsonaro gaining some ground in recent weeks.
Da Silva’s letter to evangelicals is reminiscent of one he published as candidate in 2002 to assuage financial markets that he posed no threat. That calmed anxiety at the time and helped the leftist former union leader win the presidency.
In his first year in office, he signed into law a bill that allows the establishment of private religious organizations, with broad support from evangelicals. He has characterized that act as having enshrined the right to religious freedom.
Self-declared evangelicals make up almost a third of Brazil’s population, more than double their share two decades ago. Demographer José Eustáquio Diniz Alves, a former researcher at the National School of Statistical Sciences, projects they will approach 40% by 2032, surpassing Catholics.
Bolsonaro is a Catholic, but his wife Michelle is a devout evangelical. After avoiding the spotlight during most of her husband’s presidency, she emerged during the campaign as the leading evangelical voice from Bolsonaro’s camp. She has said that, before his presidency, the presidential palace had been consecrated to demons.
Bolsonaro’s campaign has insisted da Silva will promote gender-based politics and loosen abortion restrictions rejected by many evangelicals. Da Silva in April said women should have access to abortion, then backtracked somewhat to say he is personally opposed.
Some of Brazil’s most popular evangelical pastors have also campaigned for Bolsonaro, as they did four years ago when they help carry him to victory. Polls indicate that Catholics, meanwhile, largely support da Silva, who is Catholic himself.
Da Silva said in his letter that many evangelicals are confronted with what he calls Bolsonaro's “use of faith for electoral ends.”
“My administration will never use symbols of your faith for partisan political ends, respecting the laws and traditions that separate State and Church, so there's no political interference in the practice of faith,” the former president said. “The attempt to use faith politically to divide Brazilians doesn't help anyone.”
Former Environment Minister Marina Silva, an evangelical who recently reestablished support for da Silva after a public falling out years ago, said at the event that she would rather “belong to a church that is persecuted than one that persecutes.”
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro embraces his wife, first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, during the annual Christian event March for Jesus, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug. 13, 2022. Bolsonaro is a Catholic, but his wife Michelle is a devout evangelical, and after avoiding the spotlight during most of her husband’s presidency, she emerged as the leading evangelical voice from Bolsonaro’s camp during the campaign. The presidential runoff election is set for Oct. 30. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado, File)More
MAURICIO SAVARESE
Wed, October 19, 2022
SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva published an open letter to evangelicals on Wednesday aimed at countering claims he would persecute their faith and at winning votes among a large and growing part of the population.
The letter, read at a gathering with evangelical leaders at a Sao Paulo hotel, promised he would respect religious freedoms if elected — as he did during his 2003-2010 presidency.
“We are living at a time in which lies are used intensively with the objective of stoking fear in people of good faith, pushing them away from a candidacy that is defending them more,” the letter said. “That is why I felt a need to reaffirm my commitment to freedom of religion in our country.”
Polls have shown da Silva losing support from evangelicals this year as incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and his allies have warned that the former president supports leftist authoritiarians elsewhere who have persecuted Christians.
They have sometimes literally demonized da Silva and his Workers' Party, prompting him to issue a bizarre statement this month denying he has ever conversed or dealt with the devil.
Da Silva topped the first round of presidential voting, falling less than two percentage points shy of an outright victory. Most polls show da Silva retaining a lead ahead of the Oct. 30 runoff, but with Bolsonaro gaining some ground in recent weeks.
Da Silva’s letter to evangelicals is reminiscent of one he published as candidate in 2002 to assuage financial markets that he posed no threat. That calmed anxiety at the time and helped the leftist former union leader win the presidency.
In his first year in office, he signed into law a bill that allows the establishment of private religious organizations, with broad support from evangelicals. He has characterized that act as having enshrined the right to religious freedom.
Self-declared evangelicals make up almost a third of Brazil’s population, more than double their share two decades ago. Demographer José Eustáquio Diniz Alves, a former researcher at the National School of Statistical Sciences, projects they will approach 40% by 2032, surpassing Catholics.
Bolsonaro is a Catholic, but his wife Michelle is a devout evangelical. After avoiding the spotlight during most of her husband’s presidency, she emerged during the campaign as the leading evangelical voice from Bolsonaro’s camp. She has said that, before his presidency, the presidential palace had been consecrated to demons.
Bolsonaro’s campaign has insisted da Silva will promote gender-based politics and loosen abortion restrictions rejected by many evangelicals. Da Silva in April said women should have access to abortion, then backtracked somewhat to say he is personally opposed.
Some of Brazil’s most popular evangelical pastors have also campaigned for Bolsonaro, as they did four years ago when they help carry him to victory. Polls indicate that Catholics, meanwhile, largely support da Silva, who is Catholic himself.
Da Silva said in his letter that many evangelicals are confronted with what he calls Bolsonaro's “use of faith for electoral ends.”
“My administration will never use symbols of your faith for partisan political ends, respecting the laws and traditions that separate State and Church, so there's no political interference in the practice of faith,” the former president said. “The attempt to use faith politically to divide Brazilians doesn't help anyone.”
Former Environment Minister Marina Silva, an evangelical who recently reestablished support for da Silva after a public falling out years ago, said at the event that she would rather “belong to a church that is persecuted than one that persecutes.”
UNHOLY ALLIANCE OF THE RIGHT
Michelle Bolsonaro secretly meets with Venezuelan minors her husband called prostitutes
Brazil's First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro and former Minister of Women and Family Damares Alves have secretly met with community leaders of the social project that cares for Venezuelan minors whom the president, Jair Bolsonaro, called prostitutes.
Michelle Bolsonaro y Jair Bolsonaro. -
Daniel Stewart - Yesterday
The meeting took place on Monday afternoon at a religious man's house in Lago Sul, in Brasília, after several days in which the first lady and former minister Alves insisted on meeting with the girls to try to qualify those words and mitigate the damage caused by them.
The girls were reportedly reluctant to receive the wife and ally of President Bolsonaro until pressure from Maria Teresa Belandria, the representative in Brasília of the Venezuelan opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, became effective.
During the meeting, as the newspaper 'O Globo' has learned, the community leaders with whom Michelle Bolsonaro, Alves and Belandria met, understood that there was a misunderstanding and that the Brazilian president did not mean to call prostitutes the 14 and 15 year old girls with whom he met.
Last Friday, while participating in a podcast, Bolsonaro used the Brazilian expression "pintar un clima" - which is intended to indicate that there is desire for something - while slipping that he was witnessing a case of sexual exploitation of Venezuelan minors in Brasilia.
While talking about one of the recurring topics in his campaign, that Brazil would become Venezuela if former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wins the elections, Bolsonaro told how after seeing a group of "beautiful girls, 14 or 15 years old", he asked to enter his house, where he came across about twenty of them "all very well groomed" to, he said, "make a living".
"I stopped the bike on a corner, took off my case and looked at some girls, three, four, pretty, 14, 15 years old, all dressed up on a Saturday and saw that they looked a bit alike. The opportunity came up, I went back, 'can I come in your house?' I went in. There were about 15, 20 girls, Saturday morning, getting dressed up, all Venezuelan," he said.
In those, Bolsonaro, after stressing again the age of the young women and their supposed beauty, told that he asked them why they were all getting dressed up on a Saturday. "To earn a living. Do you want that for your daughter?", said the Brazilian president while talking to the podcast director.
Since the excerpt of the interview began to spread through the networks, there was a small campaign crisis within Bolsonaro's team, which even had to launch a series of ads emphasizing that the Brazilian president is not a pedophile.
The occasion was used by the candidacy of former president Lula, who published a video that was finally ordered to be withdrawn as the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) considered that it was decontextualized. The decision was made by the president of the court, Judge Alexandre de Moraes, an unexpected ally for Bolsonaro, who on previous occasions has called him a "scoundrel", among other insults.
The meeting took place on Monday afternoon at a religious man's house in Lago Sul, in Brasília, after several days in which the first lady and former minister Alves insisted on meeting with the girls to try to qualify those words and mitigate the damage caused by them.
The girls were reportedly reluctant to receive the wife and ally of President Bolsonaro until pressure from Maria Teresa Belandria, the representative in Brasília of the Venezuelan opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, became effective.
During the meeting, as the newspaper 'O Globo' has learned, the community leaders with whom Michelle Bolsonaro, Alves and Belandria met, understood that there was a misunderstanding and that the Brazilian president did not mean to call prostitutes the 14 and 15 year old girls with whom he met.
Last Friday, while participating in a podcast, Bolsonaro used the Brazilian expression "pintar un clima" - which is intended to indicate that there is desire for something - while slipping that he was witnessing a case of sexual exploitation of Venezuelan minors in Brasilia.
While talking about one of the recurring topics in his campaign, that Brazil would become Venezuela if former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wins the elections, Bolsonaro told how after seeing a group of "beautiful girls, 14 or 15 years old", he asked to enter his house, where he came across about twenty of them "all very well groomed" to, he said, "make a living".
"I stopped the bike on a corner, took off my case and looked at some girls, three, four, pretty, 14, 15 years old, all dressed up on a Saturday and saw that they looked a bit alike. The opportunity came up, I went back, 'can I come in your house?' I went in. There were about 15, 20 girls, Saturday morning, getting dressed up, all Venezuelan," he said.
In those, Bolsonaro, after stressing again the age of the young women and their supposed beauty, told that he asked them why they were all getting dressed up on a Saturday. "To earn a living. Do you want that for your daughter?", said the Brazilian president while talking to the podcast director.
Since the excerpt of the interview began to spread through the networks, there was a small campaign crisis within Bolsonaro's team, which even had to launch a series of ads emphasizing that the Brazilian president is not a pedophile.
The occasion was used by the candidacy of former president Lula, who published a video that was finally ordered to be withdrawn as the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) considered that it was decontextualized. The decision was made by the president of the court, Judge Alexandre de Moraes, an unexpected ally for Bolsonaro, who on previous occasions has called him a "scoundrel", among other insults.
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