‘I pray to God that a candidate with a perspective of social inclusion be elected’

2023-08-03 00:35:00

Lula asks “God” for a candidate who defends social inclusion and development to win in Argentina

VER VIDEO

The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, assured this Wednesday that he asks “God” that in the next Argentine elections a candidate who defends “social inclusion and development” wins, and that “democracy prevails”, in addition to defend that the so-called Bank of the Brics can be an option for developing nations instead of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which he asked for “patience” with Argentina.

Faced with a question from Télam at a breakfast with foreign correspondents at the Planalto Palace, the seat of government, Lula avoided commenting on the names of candidates, but traced the profile that best suits you to work with your main Mercosur partner and the main destination of Brazilian industrial products.

Before 30 foreign correspondents, Lula responded to Télam about the debt acquired in 2018 by the government of Mauricio Macri / Photo: Press.

“I ask God that democracy prevail and win. That a candidate with a greater perspective of social inclusion and development be elected and not one that believes that all public policy is spending or that solving Argentina’s problem is privatizing public companies,” Lula replied in Brasilia.

The meeting with the correspondents, the first since he assumed his third term on January 1, finds Lula at the highest level of international exposure, defending a peace table for the war in Ukraine and encouraging the Amazon summit next week, in which he will seek South American unity so that rich countries finance the development of nations that still preserve their tropical forests.

Last month, Lula was with the candidate Sergio Massa in Puerto Iguazú / Photo: Press.
Lula, who said that he preferred to “be silent” when it came to mentioning a favorite in the Argentine electoral process that begins on August 13 with the PASO, He had five meetings this year with President Alberto Fernández.

Last month he was with the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, a presidential candidate for Unión Por la Patria, in Puerto Iguazú, with whom he took photos.

On June 11, 2018, when he was imprisoned for Operation Lava Jato -a process that was annulled for manipulation- received in the prison of the city of Curitiba where he was detained a rosary blessed by the Pope that Juan Grabois, the other pre-candidate of the pro-government space, approached him.

“I pray to God that a candidate with a greater perspective of social inclusion and development be elected and not one who believes that all public policy is spending or that solving the problem in Argentina is privatizing public companies” Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

In front of 30 foreign correspondents, Lula responded to Télam about the Argentine situation and the debt acquired in 2018 by the government of Mauricio Macri with the IMFan organization to which he assured that it is necessary to reform, like all multilateral institutions, and proposed, instead, to set up more “generous and flexible” entities with the countries that receive loans.

“Brazil does not want to grow alone, I am concerned that a country as important as Argentina reaches a situation like the current one based on a debt acquired by another government that remained for this government. The IMF should have patience with the drought that decimated agricultural production and could take that into account and not leave the sword on the head of the president of Argentina,” he stressed.

Lula recalled that both personally and with his Government tries to “do everything possible” in diplomatic matters to address an exit for the Argentine debt and even mentioned that he discussed the matter with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping.

The meeting with the correspondents is the first since he assumed his third term on January 1 / Photo: Press.
The Brazilian president also highlighted the importance of Argentina as a commercial partner of Brazil, the third after China and the United States.

On the second floor of the Planalto Palace, Lula received the foreign press accompanied by the foreign minister Mauro Vieira; international affairs adviser Celso Amorim; and the Minister of Social Communication, Paulo Pimenta.

At the age of 77, the extortionist who dodged hunger until he was seven years old and built his union career in the factories of São Paulo, made it clear that seeks to become a global player as it was in his first two termsthis time with a background scenario that includes the climate issue and the Amazon jungle, the Brics, the financing of poor countries, the war in Ukraine and their domestic agenda.

Also warned about “the birth of far-rights increasingly to the right in Israel”condemning the violence in the Palestinian city of Jenin.

Photo: Press.
In this framework, Lula returned to defend the entry of Argentina, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as members of the Bricsa group made up of Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa, and said that new members could be announced at the August 22 summit in Johannesburg.

Lula then proposed that the Brics should be – in the face of what he considers the lack of responses from institutions such as the UN Security Council, the IMF and the World Bank – a kind of safe-conduct for global debt and financing crises.

“The Bank of the Brics has to be more efficient and more generous than the IMF. In other words, the bank must exist to help save countries and not to submerge countries” Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

For the leader of the Workers’ Party, the New Development Bank (NDB), the so-called Bank of the Brics, may be an option for developing nations instead of the IMF.

“The Bank of the Brics has to be more efficient and more generous than the IMF. In other words, the bank must exist to help save countries and not to submerge countries,” he said of the NDB, which is directed at the Shanghai headquarters by former President Dilma Rousseff (2011-2016).

He repeated the need to a “currency of the Brics to de-dollarize” trade between countries.

“Why does Brazil need dollars to trade with China, with Argentina? It can be done with local currencies. Europe did it with the euro and we are more than half of humanity. That is why I say that we must discuss, have a currency to negotiate between us,” he said.