Twenty years ago, Lula's caravan visited 'Real Brazil'.

By Vitor Nuzzi, from Current Brazil Network

An announcement made at the end of 2012 by former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, that he would "return to traveling the country," obviously stirred up the press and the opposition, who began to talk about the uncertainty. It brought to mind the adventures of the Citizenship Caravan, whose first edition will celebrate its 20th anniversary next April – there was a second one in September and others in the following years, throughout the North and South, totaling more than 500 cities. Lula denies any connection between that caravan and the trips he intends to make this year. But both then and now, the usual commentators are identifying supposed intentions – and, with an eye on 2014, trying to undermine the former president's legacy.

For 20 days, from April 23 to May 12, 1993, the group led by Lula traveled 4.500 kilometers, visiting nearly 60 cities in seven states, showing a country rarely seen, rarely talked about, and much mistreated. It wasn't a visit to the capitals or the Brazilian coast, but to the so-called backwoods, places far from the news and state action. As Milton Nascimento sang, "facing the sea, with your back to Brazil, won't make this place a good country."

Besides going where nobody wanted to go, Lula innovated: instead of giving speeches, he interviewed people, asking them how they lived there. He collected dramatic stories and some personal accounts, such as that of a woman who revealed she was unhappy with her husband, who drank too much. He scolded another man who, at 41, said he had 12 children. And he talked to a man who initially seemed nervous in front of the "loudspeaker"—as he called the microphone—but then didn't want to let go of it. And he said to Lula: "Excuse me, sir, but I've never held a loudspeaker before, and now I'm going to speak!"

The original caravan project dates back to 1989, but it only came to fruition in 1993. The objective, according to its creators, was to bring Lula closer to the real Brazil. Journalist Ricardo Kotscho, Lula's former press advisor, would later recount that even within the PT (Workers' Party), there was resistance. Some said, with some justification: "Citizenship? The people in the places you're going to pass through don't even know what that is."

fight against hunger

Brazil in 1993 had just ousted President Fernando Collor de Mello, who was replaced by Vice President Itamar Franco. The mastermind behind the so-called "parallel government," Lula presented Itamar with a plan to combat hunger. Just two days after the caravan ended, on May 14th, the government launched the National Council for Food Security, headed by sociologist Herbert de Souza, known as Betinho, and Bishop Dom Mauro Morelli of the diocese of Duque de Caxias (RJ). Throughout the thousands of kilometers traveled by the group, there were numerous examples demonstrating that poverty should be a priority for any leader. And the prevailing assessment is that much of what would later be implemented during Lula's government began to take shape during that trip.

Twenty years have passed, with two very distinct periods: the first half was marked by the stabilization of the currency, while the second began a gradual process of poverty reduction. Of the last ten years, eight were under Lula's presidency, who then elected his successor, Dilma Rousseff. Although Brazil remains a very unequal country, during this period it lifted millions of people out of poverty, established new consumption patterns, and reversed the trend of informalization in the labor market. Compared to 1993, the number of formal jobs in the country has more than doubled.

'To poke the devil'

Two days after the national plebiscite on the form (republic or monarchy) and system of government (presidentialism or parliamentarism), on April 23, 1993, Lula landed in Recife and made a statement that, in a way, anticipated a concern that would become a hallmark of his government: "I want to put the hungry of the country on the political stage. Hunger must be addressed not only by the government, but by those who eat." Regarding the caravan, he expressed uncertainty. "I don't know what we're going to find. What I do know is that we're going to poke this devil with a short stick."

The journey would retrace Lula's own path, who in 1952, at the age of 7, left Garanhuns with his mother and seven siblings, heading to São Paulo. For 20 days, two buses – one with Lula and guests, the other with journalists – would travel through dozens of municipalities in the Northeast and Southeast, traversing dirt roads that crossed almost forgotten localities, far from "development" and with communication difficulties – there were no cell phones or internet yet, which often caused distress. In one place in Bahia, for example, Kotscho eagerly arrived at a hotel reception asking if there were any newspapers. The answer was simple: "Yes, but they're from other days."

In 12 of those 20 days, the caravan traveled through four states in the Northeast, "the most populated semi-arid region in the world," as geographer Aziz Ab'Saber, a driving force behind the trip through Brazil who died in March 2012, pointed out. They would also travel through the Jequitinhonha Valley region in Minas Gerais, one of the poorest in the country, as well as Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

One of the first stops in the real Brazil was at a camp in Sítio Poço Doce, in São Bento do Una, in the Pernambuco hinterland. There, 25 families lived, trying to survive, waking up at dawn to walk six kilometers in search of water. "All the produce that exists on this land is ours. This area is completely abandoned, except for the clearing we made. The only time he (the owner) appeared here was to intimidate us," reported the camp's representative, José Maria da Silva. For those people, it wasn't uncommon to eat a small fish called chupa-pedra. "It's the discovery of surviving through what survives in the mud," observed Professor Aziz, as noted by journalist and writer Zuenir Ventura, who also spent a few days there.

In the middle of the conversation, a guitar reaches the hands of Hilton Acioli – author, in 1989, of the jingle "Lula lá" and member of Trio Marayá in the 1960s. And he sings the caravan's theme song, Clareia:

"I doubt that a man wants everything/"
When there are those who have nothing/
"Since he was born."

The caravan coordinator, Francisco Rocha da Silva, known as Rochinha, recalled in an interview with TVT that the objective was "to hear what people thought." He led the team that traveled ahead to map the locations. The trip was well-planned, but every route ends up having its detours. In many places, the population blocked the road, causing the buses to divert to this or that location. "In the vast majority of cases, we had to deviate from the route," said Rochinha.

Western country style
The highlight of the 1993 caravan was undoubtedly the passage through the city of Canapi, in the backlands of Alagoas. An emblematic place, as it was the birthplace of the Malta family, of Rosane Collor, the first lady until the previous year. A place of gunmen and a certain Wild West atmosphere. In 1991, one of Rosane's brothers had shot at the mayor, and the bar where the incident took place almost became a tourist attraction. In August 1992, Ricardo and his brother Ronaldo Kotscho, a photographer, went to Canapi for work and ended up being expelled by a Malta security guard.

"It was reckless (going to Canapi). Even I hesitated. But President Lula made it very clear that it was one of the cities he insisted on visiting," recalled Rochinha. He went, was greeted by a crowd, walked through the streets, and nothing unusual happened. The shock, however, came with the sight of the Integrated Child Care Center (CIAC), a luxurious building in the middle of poverty and not functioning – christened by Zuenir Ventura as a "monument to folly." He would describe the CIAC thus: "Built in an open field, the visitor approaches it – or it approaches the visitor, it's not clear – as if it were a mirage, an optical illusion caused by the harsh sun."

Rogério Sottili, the current Secretary of Human Rights for the city of São Paulo, accompanied the group that traveled the country before Lula to map each location, make contacts, and identify potential problems. He recalls that the recommendation was not to pass through Canapi. "Nobody spoke to us. Everyone was armed," recalls Sottili, who at the time worked in the PT's Agrarian Secretariat.

In its initial phase, the pioneering group consisted of Sottili, journalist Cyntia Campos, and three security guards, who were also responsible for logistics. The assessment was conducted with social movements, unions, associations, churches, and, when possible, city halls, in addition to contacts with the local press. The information to be used in the caravan was meticulous – it even pointed out, for example, that there was a pothole at a certain kilometer marker on a road. In São Paulo, people like Clara Ant and José Graziano prepared detailed reports with economic and social indicators, among other information. Clara is still an advisor to Lula today. Graziano would later join the Zero Hunger Program, implemented at the beginning of Lula's government, and in 2011 became the first Brazilian to become Director-General of the FAO.

Guesswork

For José Ferreira da Silva, Frei Chico, Lula's brother, the caravan represented a second return to his homeland. He was there at the end of 1964, after a five-day trip. He stayed for 15 days, won a jeep in a bingo game with a friend, sold it, and on his return to São Paulo, bought his first house. In 1993, he realized that much had not changed, with local power concentrated in certain families and isolated regions. Furthermore, there remains a lack of understanding regarding the reality of the North/Northeast. "There's a lot of guesswork," says Frei Chico.

Ignorance also extends to historical facts. He cites cases such as that of Delmiro Gouveia, a pioneering businessman assassinated in 1917 who today gives his name to a city in the backlands of Alagoas, on the border with Bahia, Pernambuco, and Sergipe. Or about the Bahian city of Cachoeira, a pioneer in the fight for Brazil's independence.

Two things, in particular, impressed Frei Chico during the trip: the reality of the sisal workers, many of them mutilated, and the contamination of the Jequitinhonha River in Minas Gerais by mercury, used in gold extraction. "I think that (environmental preservation) is the great Brazilian drama, our great struggle for the future," he says, adding that it is possible "to grow without destroying."

He also cherished fond memories, such as a competition between accordion players in the interior of Bahia, which he regrets not having seen to the end. From a political standpoint, Frei Chico perceived the need to seek unity even with those with different viewpoints, in order to begin changing the country – and the situation has improved considerably since then. Certainly, he observes, "the caravan greatly helped Lula to form his vision of Brazil." Sottili reinforces: "Above all, he wanted to show the country."

Underground debate

Two decades separate similar initiatives: the hunger relief council established by President Itamar Franco at Lula's suggestion, and a partnership between the African Union Commission, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the Lula Institute, aimed at discussing solutions to the same problem in Africa. A meeting with local and world leaders is scheduled for early March in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

This brings us back to a still-subterranean debate, already begun in the press, about the achievements of Lula's government. This month, former minister Luiz Dulci is launching a book precisely to analyze "the choices made in the last two presidential terms." Many of these options were discussed during the caravan period: valuing the domestic market, a greater presence of the State as a driver of the economy, incentives for regional development, and prioritizing social issues.

"Statistically, in 2011 Brazil reached the lowest level of inequality in its history," declared the president of the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea), Marcelo Neri, recently. He notes that Brazilian inequality is still among the 15 highest in the world, but observes: "Without the redistributive policies sponsored by the Brazilian state, inequality would have fallen 36% less in the decade."

Rogério Sottili has no doubt that the various public policies – such as Bolsa Família and Luz para Todos – implemented since Lula's government originated from the Caravans of Citizenship, of which he was a pioneer in the first edition, in 1993. "The State reached these places," he observes.