FHC (one interview a day) challenges Lula to a fight.
Speaking incessantly, former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso provokes his successor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva; "He's keeping quiet," said the former president; FHC has been speaking at a rate of almost one interview per day and seems enthusiastic about the March 15th demonstrations, which targeted the PT, President Dilma, and Lula; however, he rejects the impeachment thesis and gives signs that the opposition's focus is not limited to bleeding the Dilma government, but also to preventing a possible Lula candidacy in 2018; "If anyone has more political responsibility for this (Petrobras case), it's him, not her," he stated.
By Brian Winter
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Political responsibility for the Petrobras corruption scandal falls more heavily on former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva than on President Dilma Rousseff, assessed former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, adding that the appointments of directors of the state-owned company by political parties were no secret to anyone.
The former president from the PSDB party stated that Dilma probably deserves to receive less blame for the Petrobras corruption scandal than her predecessor and political mentor.
"Lula is silent," Fernando Henrique said in an interview with Reuters.
Lula governed Brazil between 2003 and 2010—a period in which, according to prosecutors, the scheme was most intense. The former president may be planning a return to power in the 2018 presidential elections.
"If anyone bears more political responsibility for this (Petrobras case), it's him, not her," said Fernando Henrique, recalling that the former Petrobras executives now accused were political appointments made during Lula's government.
However, one of the whistleblowers in the scheme, former Petrobras services manager Pedro Barusco, said that the bribery scheme at Petrobras began in 1997, during the PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) government.
Despite the political turmoil and street protests demanding the removal of the Workers' Party member from office, the PSDB, the main opposition party to Dilma, has no interest in impeaching the president, according to the former PSDB president.
FHC, who at 83 years old is still an influential leader in the PSDB, said that Dilma's impeachment shortly after her re-election in October 2014 would be a destructive process for Brazilian democracy, which was only restored 30 years ago, mainly because the Public Prosecutor's Office has not yet found any evidence that she participated in the corruption scheme at Petrobras.
"No one can want impeachment, it's a complicated problem," said the former president, who governed Brazil between 1995 and 2002.
He, however, refused to rule out the possibility of impeachment should new evidence emerge, but said that those calling for impeachment now do not know the consequences it would generate and are unaware of the necessary preconditions for it to take place.
"There needs to be a crime and there needs to be political consensus both in Congress and on the streets. I don't think we're in that situation," the former president assessed, adding that most PSDB leaders think the same way.
More than 1 million people took to the streets in dozens of cities on March 15th to protest against the Dilma government. Although the protesters' slogan was in favor of impeachment, polls and interviews later showed that the majority were more interested in expressing their disapproval of corruption and the way Dilma handled the economy.
A recent Datafolha poll showed Dilma's popularity at its lowest level since she took office in 2011, with almost two-thirds of the population considering her government "bad" or "terrible." A CNT/MDA poll released this Monday showed the same scenario.
Fernando Henrique also said that popular pressure from those involved in the scandal will make it difficult or impossible for Dilma to reach a political or legal agreement to minimize the damage to dozens of companies accused of involvement in the scheme involving Petrobras, politicians and parties, and the country's largest construction companies.
"There will be no quick fix for this. Justice must prevail. That is what society is demanding," he stated.
ECONOMY: SLOW RECOVERY
This, in turn, means, according to the politician, that the Brazilian economy will not recover until at least the end of 2015, since companies are postponing investments and waiting to see if the Finance Minister, Joaquim Levy, will be able to get fiscal austerity measures approved in Congress.
Fernando Henrique described Levy, an economist trained at the University of Chicago and far more orthodox than Dilma, as a "competent technician who is doing what needs to be done."
The former president said that the lack of political support for Levy in Congress, coupled with the low price of Brazilian commodities and the imminent increase in interest rates in the United States, makes him more pessimistic in the short term.
However, after leading Brazil through a series of economic crises in the 1990s, Fernando Henrique said that history shows that the country's natural resources and its young population are reasons for long-term hope.
"For those who are investors at this moment, they won't invest, except for those who know Brazil well," said the former president, smiling.
"Because they'll say, 'well, this will pass soon, Brazil has potential.' So, some will start investing in the low-cost areas here, thinking about the future."