Waldir Pires to 247: Brazil will be a great country.
The former minister and former governor spoke exclusively to 247 about the Workers' Party era, predicting that Brazil will eradicate extreme poverty soon and affirming that the country is about to be recognized as "strong" by the major global powers; "What our government did was the greatest action to strengthen democracy of all time. Do you know what it is? Ending misery. The principle of democracy is the citizen, and there is no citizenship with hunger. Today, fathers and mothers have dignity when they put food on the table for their children to eat."
Romulo Faro - Bahia 247
One of the greatest politicians from Bahia of all time, Waldir Pires, assessed Brazil's current situation in the world in an exclusive interview with... 247 And, in addition to listing the advances of the Workers' Party era, he predicted that the country will eradicate extreme poverty within a maximum of ten years.
Waldir, former Minister of Defense in Lula's government, former governor of Bahia, and currently a city councilor in Salvador, believes that no other government has done as much for the poor as the administrations of former President Lula and President Dilma Rousseff.
"Dilma is leading Brazil at an unprecedented pace. She is fully continuing the model established by Lula, a model where the priority is the people. Lula opened the doors of development for the poor. The poor have never had as much power in Brazil as they do now."
Optimistic, Waldir Pires also said that Brazil is experiencing its greatest moment in the world. "Brazil will very soon be a great power. We already have a good, consolidated image among the major global powers. We have never had so much prestige and political strength abroad."
The Workers' Party member cited the choice of Roberto Carvalho de Azevêdo, from Bahia, to head the World Trade Organization (WTO) as an example of Brazilian "power." "This gives us invaluable prestige. The WTO is one of the most important global organizations and it's in the hands of a Brazilian. Even better, it's in the hands of someone from Bahia."
Despite his enthusiasm for Brazil's "positive" moment, the Workers' Party member criticized the current political model.
"Today we have more than 30 political parties in our country, which is very bad because the traditional parties are starting to lose what little ideology they have left. The population can't understand the reason for so many parties. We need urgent political reform because the people can no longer take our work seriously."
To conclude, Waldir once again defended the actions of the PT governments. "What our government did was the greatest action to strengthen democracy of all time. Do you know what it is? Ending poverty. The principle of democracy is the citizen, and there is no citizenship with hunger. Today, fathers and mothers have dignity when they put food on the table for their children to eat."
A controversial topic for PT (Workers' Party) members in general, especially those who fought against the "coronelismo" (political bossism) of former senator and governor Antônio Carlos Magalhães (ACM), is the choice of the "carlista" (supporter of ACM) César Borges to head the Ministry of Transport. Valdir requested confidentiality on the matter, but said that President Dilma is giving a lesson in democracy in the way she runs her government.
Regarding Carlism, the Workers' Party member said that ACM Neto's (DEM) victory in the Salvador mayoral election cannot be linked to a return to the political regime that prevailed in Bahia for almost three decades. "There is no connection. ACM Neto is young, and Carlism was a group of leaders who practiced a kind of coronelism (local political bossism). That time is over."