Pestana to 247: "Dilma has a knack for making mistakes"

Mines 247 - Right-hand man of Senator Aécio Neves (PSDB-MG), Congressman Marcus Pestana (PSDB-MG) gave an exclusive interview to sp 247 to, like the presidential candidate from the PSDB party, refute accusations that the PSDB is currently working against Brazil, as President Dilma Rousseff insinuated days ago at the Planalto Palace. "They were against the Real Plan, which stabilized the currency, against Proer, which gave solidity to the financial system, against the Itamar Franco government, which occurred at a time of national unity, and against the election of Tancredo Neves, when they played into Paulo Maluf's hands," he told 247. "It's a lot of hypocrisy and a lot of cynicism to argue otherwise."

Pestana also spoke about the 2014 presidential election and said that President Dilma Rousseff is increasingly frightened. "She's not from the field, she's not from politics, and she's realizing that she'll have to face professionals in 2014, like Senator Aécio Neves and Governor Eduardo Campos, in addition to the charismatic Senator Marina Silva," he stated. Regarding the restriction on new parties, he has been seeking a kind of middle ground. "It's clear that we need to end this party spree and discipline the issue," he said. "The problem is that Gilberto Kassab's party, the PSD, was created yesterday and the government offered it the moon and the stars; now, it's doing everything to crush Rede and Mobilização Democrática."

The congressman is fully confident that there will be a second round. "President Dilma's maximum potential is 52% of the vote, and that will fall with the succession of mistakes that have been made," he says. He points to them in politics, in the conflictual relationship with allies, and also in the economy. "Her bias is much less pragmatic than President Lula's and much more interventionist; for that very reason, Brazil ceased to be the country of choice a long time ago." According to Pestana, Brazil was doing well when the economy was under the care of Henrique Meirelles at the Central Bank and Antonio Palocci at the Ministry of Finance.

He also sees promising signs for the PSDB coming from other Latin American countries. "Venezuela and Paraguay are showing that the Bolivarian cycle has come to an end," he says. "Populism disrupts the economy, and this is already visible in Argentina as well." In Brazil, he says, the same perception will soon solidify.

Pestana also sent a text about the interview with José Guimarães (read here), leader of the PT in the Chamber, in which he rebuts Senator Aécio Neves' interview with 247 (check hereBelow is the text from the congressman:

I would like to share with the readers of Brasil 247 my perplexity regarding the interview with PT leader José Guimarães published yesterday on that website.

When Congressman José Guimarães was elected leader of his party in the Chamber of Deputies, the discomfort within his party was palpable. At the time, I imagined this was due to the strain that his family circumstances—one brother convicted in the Mensalão scandal and another linked to the nationally known "dollar in the underwear" incident—could bring to the party.

I now see that the discomfort stemmed from the congressman's lack of preparation. That's the only way to explain the rudeness and political mistakes he made in the interview.

By saying that the PT (Workers' Party) is proud not to have voted for Tancredo Neves, the congressman commits two serious political errors: first, he failed to assess the significance of this statement for millions of Brazilian democrats and, in particular, for millions of people from Minas Gerais.

Secondly, it casts doubt on the sincerity of President Dilma, who, in her eagerness to convince the state of her Minas Gerais roots, rushed to visit Tancredo's tomb in São João Del Rey to pay her personal and political respects to the former president.

It's laughable to comment that the Real Plan was Itamar's and not Fernando Henrique's, as if one weren't the other's finance minister and there wasn't a shared responsibility and merit involved.

Trying to confuse Aécio and Itamar's memory is, once again, to have a complete lack of understanding of Minas Gerais politics. Suffice it to say that one of the last comments made by the former president in the hospital was that he couldn't die at that moment because he needed to see Aécio ascending the ramp of the presidential palace.

But the biggest disaster of the interview lies in the comments about inflation. Apparently armed with a calculator, he compares the inflation during the FHC (Fernando Henrique Cardoso) period and the PT (Workers' Party) government, as if such different realities and economic situations could be compared mathematically. Not a word about the crises of the FHC period, nor about the PT's refusal to support the Real Plan, hoping for the worst for Brazil.

Furthermore, the PT needs to cure itself of its obsession with FHC. President Dilma, in every interview, refers to the former president. The congressman spent a large part of his talking about him. What is this fascination that the former president exerts over the PT? I think Brazilian politics is lacking therapy.