LULA ASSOCIATE CALLS THIRD TERM TALK A MEDIA INVENTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SAO PAULO 000949 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/BSC, DRL/ILCSR, INR/IAA, INR/R/AA STATE PASS USTR FOR KATE DUCKWORTH NSC FOR TOMASULO TREASURY FOR JHOEK USDOC FOR 4332/ITA/MAC/WH/OLAC USDOC ALSO FOR 3134/USFCS/OIO DOL FOR ILAB SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD USAID FOR LAC/AA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PINR PGOV KDEM ELAB BR SUBJECT: LULA ASSOCIATE CALLS THIRD TERM TALK A MEDIA INVENTION REF: (A) SAO PAULO 749; (B) SAO PAULO 742; (C) SAO PAULO 734; (D) SAO PAULO 94 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Devanir Ribeiro, a federal deputy who is a long-time personal friend and political associate of President Lula, dismissed as an invention of the media rampant speculation that Lula may seek to amend the Constitution to allow him to run for a third term in ¶2010. Ribeiro denied reports that he plans to propose a plebiscite on a third term, claiming that he has an entirely different plebiscite proposal. He doesn't think Lula wants a third term or that there is significant popular support for amending the Constitution, but acknowledged that the notion cannot be completely ruled out and that Lula is not entirely opposed to running again. With respect to the December 2 internal elections in the Workers' Party (PT),Ribeiro expects incumbent Ricardo Berzoini to be re-elected PT national president, possibly in the first round, though not without opposition. He is scornful of his fellow PT federal deputy Jose Eduardo Martins Cardozo's bid for the party's presidency as well as his plan to run for Mayor of Sao Paulo in ¶2008. End Summary. ¶2. (U) A three-time Sao Paulo city councilman now in his second term as a federal deputy, Devanir Ribeiro has been associated with President Lula since the 1970s when the two were leaders of the Metallurgy Workers' Union of Sao Bernardo and Diadema. Together they led strikes against the automobile companies in Sao Paulo's industrial "ABC" suburbs (Santo Andre, Sao Bernardo do Campo, Sao Caetano do Sul) and went on to help found the Workers' Party (PT) in 1980 and the Unified Workers' Center (CUT) labor confederation in 1984, and to play an important role in Brazil's transition from military dictatorship to democracy. Poloff met with Ribeiro November 19 to ask about his widely reported initiative to have Congress convoke a national plebiscite on whether to amend the Constitution to permit a president to serve three consecutive terms. -------------- GIVING THE PRESIDENT PLEBISCITE POWER -------------- ¶3. (SBU) "There is no such initiative in the works", Ribeiro said. The media have fabricated the idea out of either confusion or malice against Lula and the PT. Ribeiro has indeed asked the PT leadership to approve a plebiscite initiative for him to put to Congress, but its purpose would be to give the President the power to convoke plebiscites and referenda, without needing Congressional approval. Ribeiro cited his deepening frustration, after five years in the Chamber of Deputies, with Congress's inability to accomplish anything. He has concluded that the Executive needs to be able to work around Congress to enact reforms. If President Lula had the power to convoke a plebiscite on his own authority, Ribeiro said, it is conceivable he would seek a plebiscite on political reform and electoral rules, along with some provisions of tax reform. Ribeiro doesn't think a Constitutional amendment allowing a third term is a high priority of Lula's. ¶4. (SBU) That said, the notion cannot be ruled out entirely, Ribeiro acknowledged. Certainly, within the PT, which at the moment has no strong candidate to run for president in 2010, there are elements that see Lula as the party's best hope of maintaining its SAO PAULO 00000949 002 OF 003 hold on power. Lula himself, in Ribeiro's view, is sincere in his public disavowals of interest in another term ("I will pass the sash to my successor on January 1, 2011, and I'm going [home] to make my roast rabbit" - see ref A). He thinks eight years is enough for anyone, and appears to genuinely believe that the alternation of parties in power is better for the country. At the same time, Lula may not be unalterably opposed to another term. He enjoys being President and is aware that many in his base - which according to him includes not only Brazil's poor, but also significant portions of the financial and business community - would like to see him stay on. ¶5. (SBU) On the question of whom Lula might support as a possible successor should he decide not to run, and whether he would throw his weight behind a PT candidate or someone from an allied party in his governing coalition, Ribeiro said only that "Lula doesn't say anything [to me] about that." While skeptical of the chances of Dilma Rousseff, Lula's Chief of Staff, and Jaques Wagner, Governor of Bahia, Ribeiro believes former Finance Minister Antonio Palocci may be able to mount a serious candidacy. Palocci, architect and implementer of Lula's successful macro-economic policy, resigned in March 2006 after it was revealed that he abused his authority in an attempt to escape implication in a sexual scandal, but was subsequently elected federal deputy by the voters of Sao Paulo. Yet another possibility, Ribeiro said, might be for Lula to choose a high-profile private-sector leader, someone like steel magnate Jorge Gerdau Johannpeter or textile king Josue Gomes da Silva, Vice-President Alencar's son. -------------- PT INTERNAL DIVISIONS AND ELECTIONS -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Poloff asked Ribeiro for insights into the PT's December 2 elections for national, state, and local party presidents and directorates. Ribeiro, a member of the PT's so-called "Majority Camp" (CM - see refs B and C),predicted that the CM's candidate, incumbent Ricardo Berzoini, will be re-elected national president, more than likely in the first round. (Note: Three months ago, Berzoini disavowed any intention to seek another term as PT president, and Lula was openly supporting his foreign affairs advisor, Marco Aurelio Garcia, but the CM pushed back and forced Lula to accept Berzoini. End Note.) However, given the field of seven candidates, Berzoini could fall short of a majority and face a runoff against Jilmar Tatto, leader of the Sao Paulo city PT machine and an ally of former Mayor (now Minister of Tourism) Marta Suplicy. Unlike Berzoini, Tatto can attract votes from the PT's leftist factions and tendencies. He has also lined up the support of state legislator Rui Falcao and his "New Course" movement. ¶7. (SBU) Contrary to press reports, Ribeiro asserted that federal deputy Jose Eduardo Martins Cardozo is unlikely to make it to the second round. Cardozo is the candidate of Justice Minister Tarso Genro's "Message to the Party" faction (see ref B) but can expect support from no other group. He hopes to show enough support in the party elections to boost his candidacy for Mayor of Sao Paulo, but Ribeiro thinks his chances are slim. The other four candidates for the party presidency - Valter Pomar, Gilney Viana, Jose Carlos Miranda, and Markus Sokol - all represent small, left-wing tendencies and are not expected to be much of a factor except perhaps by making alliances to support a candidate in the second round, if there is one. -------------- COMMENT -------------- SAO PAULO 00000949 003 OF 003 ¶8. (SBU) Ribeiro is probably being disingenuous when he disclaims any intention of paving the way via his proposed plebiscite for Lula to seek a third term if the President decides that's what he wants. But the chances of Lula's so doing remain small. A plebiscite would offer only moral support to the idea of amending the Constitution. Congress would still have to pass a Constitutional Amendment Proposal (PEC) by a three-fifths vote, twice in each chamber, before October 2009. Right now the government is having trouble mustering the three-fifths vote needed in the Senate to renew the financial transactions tax (CPMF) for another four years, and the third term would be a much more controversial and emotional proposal given similar initiatives in Venezuela and elsewhere. Lula also has to consider how a Constitutional battle and a third term might affect his legacy. For now, Ribeiro and others in the PT appear merely to be keeping all options open while hoping a strong candidate emerges from within the party. ¶9. (U) This cable was cleared by Embassy Brasilia. WHITE