Estadão manipulates facts to attack Dilma in yet another anti-PT editorial.
The newspaper pretends to ignore that during Dilma's government, Brazil had the lowest unemployment rate in history and foreign exchange reserves increased.
247 - The newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo, which was once effectively controlled by the Mesquita coffee-growing family, manipulated facts to attack Dilma Rousseff and, in doing so, attempt to damage the image of Lula, who is leading the polls for the presidential election by a wide margin.
The newspaper says that the former president has difficulty talking about "Dilma Rousseff and her dark government." Two untruths in the same sentence. Lula not only talks about Dilma, but her government was not dark.
The newspaper is trying to place the blame for the 2015 and 2016 recession on Dilma Rousseff's shoulders, pretending to ignore that the economic crisis was caused by Lava Jato, which hampered investments, and by the political class that, under the leadership of Eduardo Cunha, created a controversial agenda in the Chamber of Deputies to undermine her government.
"The Workers' Party leader may have no interest in remembering, but the results produced by Lula's creation are still fresh in the country's memory: economic recession, social crisis, inflation, unemployment, economic disorganization, price manipulation, and fiscal irresponsibility, which included, among other maneuvers, the infamous 'fiscal maneuvers.' All of this did not happen by chance. It was the work of Dilma Rousseff's voluntarism, but it was much more than a simple individual mistake. Without any exaggeration, Dilma's government was the dream administration of the Workers' Party, with the application – without brakes, without limits, and without dialogue – of all the outdated and misguided theories that the Workers' Party has always defended and, surprisingly, still defends," wrote the author of the text which, it is worth remembering, reflects the opinion of the economic group that publishes the newspaper.
Between 2003 and 2013, Brazil grew by an average of 4,1 percent. After the Lava Jato corruption scandal broke, with the support of newspapers like Estadão, there was no significant growth in 2014, but the employment level was still maintained at a high level.
The unemployment rate at the end of 2014 was 4,7%, the lowest in history. And Brazil also had the largest foreign exchange reserves in history.
The newspaper, and this is a major flaw, is trying to revive the completely discredited fiscal irresponsibility case.
Here is the full text of the editorial, which can be refuted point by point. It should be preserved as a piece of the shame that the Brazilian press has become, blatantly revealing itself as a mouthpiece for the elite of backwardness, as Jessé Souza would say.
Once again, the newspaper is spreading misinformation, as it did in its 2018 editorial, in which it stated that it was very difficult to choose between university professor Fernando Haddad and the defender of militias, Jair Bolsonaro.
The history of the Workers' Party (PT) has produced many events that work against the party and its candidates. In every election, there is much to hide and to evade. But it would be to diminish the PT's trajectory to think that, in the category of issues to be avoided, there would be "only" the corruption scandals of the Mensalão and Petrolão. There is also the manipulation of the State apparatus, enthusiastic support for dictatorships and governments that violate human rights, tolerance of corporatism and privileges, confusion between the public and private sectors, sabotage of responsible public policies (simply because others proposed them), negligence regarding internal party wrongdoing, smear campaigns against political opponents, abundant dissemination of disinformation, and various other practices that contradict the party's original discourse in defense of ethics and the renewal of politics.
This is a long-standing issue that didn't just appear now and isn't solely related to Lava Jato. But one item stands out on this long list. It's a subject that Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has particular difficulty dealing with. The Workers' Party leader may talk about the triplex apartment in Guarujá or the Atibaia ranch – naturally uncomfortable topics that have revealed to the country how the former union leader, who always railed against bosses, actually deals with his crony contractors – but he has no idea how to approach this subject: Dilma Rousseff and her sinister government.
It's a difficult topic, both because of the evident disaster that was Dilma Rousseff's time in the Planalto Palace and because of Lula's direct responsibility in the matter. The PT leader decided that Dilma Rousseff would be the PT's candidate for President of the Republic in 2010. After all, this is the division of tasks in the party that calls itself democratic: Lula decides, the others obey. In Lula's own words, the relationship between the two is that of creator and creature.
The Workers' Party leader may have no interest in remembering, but the results produced by Lula's creation are still fresh in the country's memory: economic recession, social crisis, inflation, unemployment, economic disorganization, price manipulation, and fiscal irresponsibility, which included, among other maneuvers, the infamous "fiscal maneuvers." All of this did not happen by chance. It was the work of Dilma Rousseff's voluntarism, but it was much more than a simple individual mistake. Without any exaggeration, Dilma's government was the dream administration of the Workers' Party, with the application – without brakes, without limits, and without dialogue – of all the outdated and misguided theories that the Workers' Party has always defended and, surprisingly, still defends.
The result became evident to the country. So present in the 2018 elections, the anti-PT sentiment was not merely a consequence of decisions by the Federal Court of Curitiba. The problem was much deeper. With Dilma Rousseff, the population experienced what a government with the PT putting its theses and ideas into practice is like. Very few people want that back, and, knowing well the extent of this rejection, Lula wants to hide Dilma Rousseff and her government in every way possible.
For those who wish to diminish or relativize the electorate's aversion to Dilma's administration in the Planalto Palace, it suffices to recall the results of the 2018 Senate elections in Minas Gerais. Even with all the PT militants saying that Dilma Rousseff had suffered a coup – this is how PT members describe constitutional acts of Congress when they displease them – and with the party investing many financial resources in the campaign, the former president obtained a humiliating fourth place from the voters of Minas Gerais. Therefore, Dilma is an obvious electoral burden, even for a veteran prestidigitator like Lula.
When questioned this week about Dilma's role in a potential new PT government, Lula showed no mercy to his protégé, attributing to her utter irrelevance. "Time has passed. There are many new people around," he said in an interview with Rádio CBN Vale. If time has passed for Dilma, it has also passed for Lula. The country needs people with a different moral stature, who don't have to hide their past or their protégés.