The Lula da Silva government shows no signs of pacification, says former minister Aldo Rebelo

Former Minister of PT governments Aldo Rebelo (PDT) criticized President Lula da Silva (PT). “I don’t see, in the new government, an attitude towards pacification”, he said, in an interview with Rádio Bandeirantes, three days before Lula da Silva’s inauguration.

According to Rebelo, the country is divided and it is the responsibility of the new government to promote unity. “And I ask: would President Lula and his party, in a third term, be willing to promote peace among Brazilians, pacify the country, reduce the level of conflicts?,” he pondered. “Is the new government willing to promote the necessary movement for this to happen?”

He answered it himself: “It seems, in some circumstances, that the elections are continuing, that we are still living in the electoral period, the period of dispute. The country is showing signs that building peace and unity is not a priority for the future government. I am not optimistic about early signs.”

For Rebelo, who was a federal congressman for 20 years for the PCdoB, “Brazil needs peace and unity”, and “without this it is impossible to resume the path of growth, the path of social justice and democracy.”

It will also be virtually impossible to govern, said the former minister. “Gathering political support, intellectual and material energies to make the country grow again in a divided country, I would say it is not difficult. I would say it is impossible.”

Asked about how to pacify the country, the minister said that with “gestures and words” and mentioned former president Juscelino Kubitschek (1956-1961), who “suffered two attempts at a military uprising” and “amnestied the rebels.”

“I think these gestures and these words should come from the government,” said Rebelo, in an interview with the broadcaster.

With information from Revista Oeste

More: Brazil news in English, every day from The Rio Times.