WEYMOUTH: What are your plans as president?
DA SILVA: During our campaign we made a commitment. Although Brazil is a country with extraordinary potential, 50 million people live below the poverty line. Brazil is not a poor country, but a country with social inequities, and this is a major issue. The wealth has been concentrated in the hands of a few. So we have made a commitment to reach out to the poorest [sectors].
There are high expectations on the part of the electorate and you’ve promised to create jobs. How can you do that given Brazil’s dire economic situation?
Not much public money is required. Only [increased] production will give Brazil the conditions needed to reduce interest rates and generate the jobs that we need.
There are two ways to generate growth: the free market or the socialist model that relies on the state. Which course do you plan to follow?
I don’t think that the state has to manage companies. I remember what President [Franklin] Roosevelt did with the Tennessee Valley Authority. The role of the state is to plan, stimulate development with incentives and, if necessary, provide funding in partnership with the private sector. Who you will name as governor of the central bank? Will the central bank be independent or autonomous?
No country in the world has come under so much pressure during the election campaign regarding the appointment of the governor of the central bank. I cannot give in to the international markets’ pressure on whom I should appoint as governor. I’m not concerned with autonomy of the central bank. It’s not a major issue. The people who ruled Brazil for many years could have done that. But now, when I have won the election, they propose that.
Are you willing to tell U.S. investors that you will not renegotiate Brazil’s debt?
You can tell American investors and the American people that we will fulfill all the contracts that the Brazilian government has signed.
You’ve been critical of the U.S. government’s initiative to create a free-trade area of the Americas. Why?
I favor a free-trade policy because we need to guarantee equal opportunities among the participating countries. The model that attracts me is the European Union because they first started building multilateral institutions so that there would be one central bank and one euro currency for Europe. We don’t have multilateral institutions in the Americas.
Will your administration maintain the tight fiscal discipline that is a condition for the IMF loan to your country?
We said in June that we will fulfill all the contracts that Brazil has signed. I would like not to have to borrow one dollar from the IMF. I would prefer to see Brazil increase its industrial production and exports and achieve a trade surplus so that we don’t have to borrow money. That’s why I will propose to President Cardoso that, prior to my Inauguration, he and I work together with the Congress to pass a law to reduce taxes in the manufacturing industry, and also on our export products, so that Brazil will manufacture more and export more.
In your own party, there are radicals and more moderate members. Is the left going to give you a chance to carry out reforms?
The Workers Party has learned about the exercise of democracy. We do have disagreements, but we hold conventions and the majority wins. If you have a right-wing radical on one side and a left-wing radical on the other side, it’s possible for me to become the road to the center and work to do things that are wise for Brazil.
How much in the center are you? Have you really changed?
I believe that I have changed and that Brazil has changed. It would be stupid if I had not changed, a man who has reached 57 years of age, who has suffered all kinds of prejudices, who has run four times for the presidency. I can guarantee you that Brazil has changed. Never have so many businessmen been on our side. I’ve talked with almost everybody in the financial system and tried to show them that I would be capable of leading Brazil to a better situation than it finds itself in today.
Some people say that you’re like Venezuela’s left-wing president, Hugo Chavez. Others argue you’re more centrist like British Prime Minister Tony Blair. How do you see yourself?
When I started in the labor movement, the communists used to say I was a CIA agent. The right wing used to say I was a communist. I never was a communist and I never was a CIA agent. I was just a Brazilian who had the trust of my fellow workers whom I represented in the metal workers’ union. Now it is not possible to make any kind of comparison between Lula and Chavez. I have a political party; I have a labor movement. We have structures in Brazil that are much more institutionalized than in Venezuela. I remember telling President Chavez, “I would advise you to be more political. A president cannot fight with everybody at the same time.” I believe he is paying the price for his lack of political experience. He comes from a military background. In relation to Cuba, let’s not confuse the passion that my generation has for the Cuban revolution and what it represented then with any approval of the Cuban regime today. I defend religious freedom, cultural freedom, freedom for trade unions and political freedom.
Can you talk a little about what you had to overcome to escape poverty and end up as president of Brazil?
Here in Brazil, people would mention Abraham Lincoln to me as an example of a man who ran many times and lost, was of humble origins and ultimately became one of the most important presidents of the United States. This tale was used to inspire me to continue to run for the presidency. Many things happened in my life that I never expected. I never imagined becoming a labor leader. In 1970 I started in the labor movement and by 1978, I had become the most important labor leader in the country. I never imagined belonging to a political party but on Feb. 10, 1980, I created the Workers Party. I never imagined participating in politics and today I am president of the republic.
When you look back…
I remember that I ate bread for the first time in my life when I was 7 years old. Till then, I drank black coffee and mixed flour in the coffee along with porridge for breakfast. In those days a lot of children starved before reaching the age of 1. I managed to survive.
