"Eduardo's candidacy could excite Brazil"

Bahia 247

Despite not conditioning her candidacy for Governor of Bahia on that of the Governor of Pernambuco, Eduardo Campos, for President of the Republic, Senator Lídice da Mata continues to show enthusiasm for the possibility of the PSB leading a presidential ticket and once again extols the "potential" of her party colleague.

"I think that Eduardo's experience as the manager of a northeastern state, a difficult state that faces the challenges of drought, and whose administration is very well-regarded, could indeed make him a candidate who excites Brazil with his ability to solve problems."

The senator recalls the PT's birth as "radically" against political alliances and believes that now the party is "hostage" precisely to political agreements in order to govern the country. In an interview with the newspaper Tribuna da Bahia, the socialist also rejects the idea that the street protests are against President Dilma Rousseff and against the PT, but considers the government's difficulty in responding to the people.

Below are excerpts and here The complete interview with Senator Lídice da Mata.

Senator, do you believe that the recent protests will impact President Dilma Rousseff's reelection in 2014?

They have already had an impact throughout Brazil, according to all the governors, the president's government, and especially the governments of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. They have already played a historic role. Whether they will have an even greater impact, I think that will only happen if they evolve, if there is a return to the streets with agendas that turn against the government. For now, I think they have already had an impact and that there is time for a recovery of the prestige of the governors and the president of the Republic until the next election.

With the drop in approval ratings for Dilma and Governor Wagner, do you believe that the PT in Bahia will be able to impose a candidate on its base?

I think imposition is never a good measure, but I don't think that the fact that there were these setbacks means that the PT is finished. That's not it. Nor do I put it that way. The PT is a great party, the largest left-wing party in our country, it has links with popular movements, strong links with religious movements, with rural and urban workers' movements. What I would say is that the PT, as a party, paid the price of having a certain amount of wear and tear, not only because the president of the Republic is from the PT and, therefore, there is this wear and tear. There was an objective erosion of the PT (Workers' Party) due to its holding the Presidency of the Republic, due to what the PT was before, its promises, its radicalism, its presentation as a party of "ethics for ethics' sake," of moralism for moralism's sake, a party that had a sectarian position regarding alliances and was forced to make concessions, forced to form alliances, alliances that I would call heterodox, because it didn't remain solely within a democratic field, it went further, which I understand all of them, but I come from parties and movements that always defended political fronts. We defended the broad front, with segments of the so-called national bourgeoisie, during the time of the military dictatorship. In the period when the PT emerged, I was always defending democratic positions to advance our struggle and then deepen it. The PT didn't; the PT grew by rejecting alliances, and that's why it's being criticized now. There's a difference. There is criticism of the PT (Workers' Party), because it's a criticism of the left as a whole, the PT as the main party, and it is the main party because it sustained itself on a discourse that was also right-wing. It was even quite a right-wing discourse. A kind of Carlos Lacerda-esque discourse on the left, that discourse of fighting corruption through corruption. That was the PT I knew. In the early days of the PT. I would say that the PT is drinking a bit of its own poison.

How do you view the governor's statement that the PT (Workers' Party) has the legitimacy to lead his succession process? Is there no room for other parties?

Look, these are two different things. What the governor said is absolutely correct. The PT (Workers' Party) does have legitimacy. Why wouldn't it? It's the largest party within the coalition, it's the governor's party, it's the president's party. What I'm saying is that this isn't enough. And he didn't deny the legitimacy of the others as well. He speaks of legitimacy, of mine, of Marcelo (Nilo)'s, of Otto (Alencar)'s. Of all those who make up the coalition. Governor Jaques Wagner is a democrat. He's a democrat with a party. He suffers pressure from his party, but he's a democrat. He's a democrat and he's the leader of this political process. We have confidence in his leadership and we think the press likes to exploit the word there, that the guy said something, that the tone was different. That doesn't exist. In fact, they even put in the newspaper now that the governor was almost confronting me. There is no confrontation between me and Wagner.

Is there a risk of collapse?

Anyone betting that Wagner and I will fight is wasting their time. Beyond our political respect, beyond the governor's leadership role in the state, and my deep respect for his leadership, I am a personal friend of Wagner's. I have personal confidence in him, just as I am convinced he has confidence in me. Therefore, I will not be a candidate against the Wagner government, because if I were a candidate against the Wagner government, I would be an inconsistent candidate, against myself. Because I believed in this project, the PSB supported Wagner before the PT did. Before the PT supported Wagner's candidacy, I went to Brasília to request a meeting with Minister Jaques Wagner and said: "We will support you. We had discussed this in the PSB executive committee and concluded that you are the best candidate. We are willing to support you." The governor should remember this. We offered to start working with the Instituto Pensar, with institutions close to our activism, in order to begin building a government program with him. So, we supported Wagner before the PT did. There is no possibility of a break or estrangement between Wagner and me. We just had a great conversation. Everything I do will be discussed and agreed upon with the governor. The governor may make decisions that I disagree with, just as I may have to make decisions that he doesn't consider best. But that doesn't mean we have any break, neither on a personal level nor on a political-ideological level.

Are you in the running, or does your candidacy depend on Eduardo Campos entering the national scene?

I am in the race. I receive support from various segments of the government's base. These aren't formal segments; they are people, voters who approach me daily to say they support my candidacy. I will continue fighting to be the government's candidate, to be the base's candidate. But I think we still have a long way to go in 2013. I am working in the Senate; I approved important projects in the Senate this year, I approved a law facilitating the implementation of Export Processing Zones in Brazil, the EPZs, which is a very important law. We need it. In 2013, from the beginning, since the end of last year, the PSB has been repeating this like a mantra: "2013 will be a difficult year for the economy; we have to concentrate on management, on administration. In 2014 we will deal with 2014 and the election." I am very concerned with helping the PSB mayors govern. We have been conducting training seminars, providing advisory services to mayors, going to the municipalities, developing strategic plans, debating the realities of the municipalities, identifying lines of financing from the federal government so that municipalities can overcome these difficulties, fighting in Brasília for the thesis that we have been debating for a long time: urban reform now. And the streets have consolidated this position of ours, demonstrating that the PSB (Brazilian Socialist Party) is sensitive and attuned to the needs of the people. Discussing the need to reverse the federal pact. It is not possible to continue with the concentration of the country's revenues in the Union. It is necessary to rethink another model for Brazil. It is necessary to reformulate our policies.

The Workers' Party (PT) has been in power for 10 years and hasn't demonstrated the capacity to bring about this change. Do you believe that Eduardo Campos will be able to achieve the change you advocate?

I would say that the PT (Workers' Party) hasn't shown any possibility of change. The PT was an ally of the project. The SUS (Unified Health System) project was implemented after the Constituent Assembly and developed from Fernando Henrique's government onwards, and Lula's government was an ally and invested very vigorously, as did Dilma's government, in the process of expanding the SUS. I would say that each government responded to a stage, a need of the Brazilian people. Now we need to intensify our management capacity and speed in the application of public policies and the investments necessary for Brazil. Of course, Dilma's government is making a huge effort to make this viable. But it's not easy. I think that Eduardo's experience as manager of a northeastern state, a difficult state that faces the hardships of drought and whose management is very well approved, can indeed make him a candidate who excites Brazil because of his ability to solve problems.