LULA'S GOVERNMENT IN THE CROSSHAIRS: A PT PERSPECTIVE ON

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SENSITIVE

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PINR PHUM SOCI ELAB BR
SUBJECT: LULA'S GOVERNMENT IN THE CROSSHAIRS: A PT PERSPECTIVE ON
THE WORLD SOCIAL FORUM IN CARACAS

REF: Caracas 260

Sensitive but Unclassified -- Protect Accordingly


1. (SBU) Summary: Although they deny it, members of President
Lula's Workers' Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores - PT) who attended
the Sixth World Social Forum - Americas Region (WSF) in Caracas in
late January had some difficult moments. The event became Hugo
Chavez's show and Brazil was criticized for being an "imperialistic
force" in Latin America. Demonstrators at the Forum criticized the
presence of Brazilian troops in Haiti, operations of state-owned
Petrobras in Bolivia, and President Lula's economic policies. End
Summary.


2. (SBU) According to participants' reports cited by Ana Maria
Stuart, PT International Affairs advisor, the event was
disorganized. Seminars were held in many places far away from each
other and with no good options for public transportation. Thus,
many seminars were left empty because the participants couldn't get
there on time. The internal disorganization combined with the
chaotic traffic in Caracas made participants' life harder than it
was at the 2005 WSF in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, in southern
Brazil.


3. (SBU) PT members present at the WSF joined the chorus of
criticism against Brazil and Lula's government. Antonio Carlos
Spis, representative of the Sco Paulo Unified Workers' Confederation
(CUT) - a labor umbrella group -- and Coordinator of the Social
Movement Forum, one of the largest panels of Caracas, asserted that
the criticism of Lula's government is "natural." The social
movements, he noted, gathered in Caracas agreed to call for 1)
Withdrawal of Brazilian forces from Haiti, and 2) Withdrawal of
American forces from Iraq. They also wanted to express their
opposition to American imperialism throughout the world, and to
Brazilian imperialism in Bolivia and Ecuador, where Brazil has
economic interests.


4. (SBU) According to Spis, the criticism against America and
Brazil are different in kind because the former is destructive ("we
want George Bush dead") while the latter is constructive ("we
support Lula's government even though we disagree with many of its
policies.") In addition, perhaps as a means of demonstrating where
their sympathies lie, CUT and the Federation Oil Workers (Petrobras
employees' union) announced their willingness to support the
Bolivian government's decision concerning exploitation of natural
gas, whatever it turns out to be. They even talked about going on
strike in Brazil to support Bolivia. When asked if CUT and the oil
workers would support the nationalization of Petrobras holdings in
Bolivia, Spis answered that Evo Morales has already said that is not
part of his plans.


5. (U) The direction of the WSF as a whole is under discussion. Up
to now it has been a place where people from outside the mainstream
international organizations get together to discuss social issues,
an alternative to the Davos World Economic Forum. However,
according to Ana Maria Stuart, some participants, including some PT
representatives, believe the WSF should present, in a more formal
way, at the end of each session, delegates' views and
recommendations on important contemporary issues. They would like
to see more concrete results from the meetings.


6. (SBU) Oded Grajew, Chairman of the Instituto Ethos, who is a
founder of the WSF and a former advisor to Lula, stressed the
diverse, decentralized nature of the Forum and said those who are
pushing for a more proactive agenda represent a very small minority.
He said the Forum will continue to be a process and a debating
society which will foment change only indirectly. Grajew
acknowledged that Hugo Chavez had appropriated this year's regional
Forum for his own purposes, but indicated that host governments
always try to do this, as the Brazilian government had itself done
at past events in Porto Alegre. There was a qualitative difference
this time, he noted, because of the close affinity between Chavez

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and some of the more militant and vocal leftist organizations, and
because of the timbre, tone, and volume of Chavez's rhetoric. But
Grajew insisted that the Forum is not a monolithic body that issues
resolutions, but rather a collection of independent movements, each
of which sponsors its own activities (hence the thousands of
different events in Caracas - see reftel) and speaks for itself.
Many of these groups oppose any use of force, including military
force, to bring about social change; thus it was natural for such
organizations to criticize the presence of Brazilian peacekeeping
forces in Haiti. This criticism was not meant to reflect badly on
Brazil or its government. Grajew also acknowledged that the Lula
government came under criticism for its "neo-liberal" macroeconomic
policies, but, like Spis, he characterized it as "friendly"
criticism from people who consider Lula one of their own and wish
him well but want him to do more to combat inequality. He also
noted that, although it didn't receive much publicity, Chavez
himself was criticized by many Forum elements because Venezuela's
economy is dependent on the petroleum sector, which tends to be a
source of global conflict as well as a danger to the environment.
Some leftists, he added, are also uncomfortable with Chavez's
military background and posture, and his flamboyance.


7. (SBU) Comment: President Lula received some criticism at home
for not attending this year's WSF (though some members of his
government were there, as was his former Chief of Staff, Jose
Dirceu). No doubt he knew he would be upstaged by Chavez, and that
he would be subjected to criticism from militant leftists. As
presidential campaign 2006 draws nearer, Lula continues to wrestle
with the question of how to mobilize his party's leftist base while
at the same time reaching out to try to regain the support of
centrist, middle-class voters who have been disillusioned by several
months of political scandals, and who he will need to attract to win
re-election. End comment.


8. (U) This cable was cleared/coordinated with Embassy Brasilia.

McMullen