PT: Military repression will not solve Brazil's crisis.

247 - The National Executive Committee of the PT (Workers' Party) released a statement on Friday night, the 25th, harshly criticizing Michel Temer's decision to use the Army against the truckers' strike, which has been ongoing for the fifth day, protesting against the fuel price readjustment policy. 

"The persistent recourse to the Armed Forces is a symptom of the authoritarian and weak character of a government rejected by almost 100% of the population," says the PT in the statement. "The agreement announced yesterday not only preserves an abusive policy but also subsidizes it with public money. Money that could be invested in the health and education of the suffering people," the party says. 

Brazilian Chief of Staff Eliseu Padilha has just announced that the Temer government, at the request of the Army command, has issued a Guarantee of Law and Order (GLO) decree to support the Armed Forces' actions throughout the national territory to clear highways blocked by the truckers' strike. According to Raul Jungmann, highway blockades have decreased from 930 to 519 nationwide. The GLO is valid until June 1st. The military was Temer's last resort against the chaos he himself created (read more).

Read the PT's statement in full:

Lacking any political authority and incapable of building solutions through dialogue, the coup government is once again resorting to the Armed Forces, this time summoned to militarily repress the truckers' and people's pickets on the country's roads and public thoroughfares. And for the first time, the decree authorizing the use of the Armed Forces extends to the entire national territory.

The persistent recourse to the Armed Forces is a symptom of the authoritarian and weak character of a government rejected by almost 100% of the population.

The Workers' Party has been warning about the risks of political manipulation of the fuel crisis, which has been aggravated by the alarmist news coverage on Globo Network. The intervention of the Armed Forces reinforces the discourse of opportunists and fascists.

The agreement announced yesterday not only preserves an abusive policy but also subsidizes it with public money. Money that could be invested in the health and education of the suffering people.

The truckers' demand for a reduction in the price of diesel is fair, just as the reduction in the price of gasoline and cooking gas is fair and necessary.

The Workers' Party (PT) demonstrated during its governments that it is possible to have a fair fuel pricing policy. We made adjustments over long cycles, balancing the interests of Petrobras with the greater interests of the people and the nation.

Petrobras should be profitable, but above all, it should serve the country, becoming an instrument for national development and for financing education.

We must completely reconsider the privatizing and anti-social logic of Petrobras and this coup government, which takes away the people's rights and shamefully attacks our national sovereignty, while subserviently serving the interests of big capital, especially foreign capital.

We will present to the National Congress a proposal for guidelines on Petrobras' fuel pricing policy, as well as an increase in the tax on bank profits and the reversal of tax exemptions granted last year to large multinational oil companies. These are important and fair measures to compensate for the tax breaks on gasoline, diesel, and cooking gas.

The PT believes in Brazil and the Brazilian people!

Out with Temer! Lula here!
National Executive Committee of the Workers' Party