13 reasons to re-elect Dilma

1. Despite the flaws and contradictions of the PT (Workers' Party) and the current government, I will vote for Dilma so that social policies that, in the last 12 years, have lifted 36 million Brazilians out of poverty can be improved.

2. I will vote for Brazil to remain independent and sovereign, free from interference by the IMF and the World Bank, distant from the dictates of the European Union, and critical of the imperialist actions of the USA.

3. I will vote for Latin American and Caribbean integration; for solidarity with the governments of Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Uruguay; and for the autonomy of CELAC and Mercosur.

4. I will vote in favor of respecting the constitutional right to strike and hold public demonstrations, without criminalizing social movements and their leaders.

5. I will vote for the National Policy on Social Participation; for maintaining quotas in universities; for the ENEM (National High School Exam), Pronatec (National Program for Access to Technical Education and Employment), and ProUni (University for All Program); and for increasing the percentage of GDP allocated to education.

6. I will vote in favor of the More Doctors Program which, thanks to its preventive action, has reduced infant mortality to 15,7 per 1.000 live births.

7. I will vote for easier access to credit and an annual adjustment to the minimum wage, in order to increase the purchasing power of Brazilian families, to the point where air travel will no longer be a luxury reserved for the wealthy classes.

8. I will vote for slave labor on agribusiness farms to be severely punished and for such properties to be confiscated in favor of agrarian reform.

9. I will vote for the Federal Police to remain non-partisan, making arrests even of government members, combating drug trafficking, smuggling, and the nefarious activities of money launderers.

10. I will vote to keep inflation under control and, in Brazil, to consider the growth of the HDI (Human Development Index) more important than that of GDP. Even though our GDP is growing slowly, our HDI is the second highest in the world, behind only the US, if we consider the size of the population.

11. I will vote for our diplomacy to remain independent, allied with just causes, without taking off our shoes at US customs and endorsing US war terrorism, which spreads tears and suffering in so many regions of the planet.

12. I will vote for the preservation of the Internet's Ground Zero, without interference from the telecommunications giants, who have vested interests andTo commercialize social networks and maintain control over digital communication.

13. I will vote, finally, for a better Brazil, even knowing that the current government is contradictory and incapable of promoting structural reforms and punishing those responsible for the crimes of the military dictatorship. However, I fear regression and, in the current situation, I will not trade the known for the unknown.

Frei Betto is a writer, author of "What Life Has Taught Me" (Saraiva), among other books.