Lula da Silva revives Cold War fears in Washington
 
by Isabel Vincent, National Post
Thursday, October 31, 2002
 
Brazil's newly elected president, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, has promised to expand the military in Latin America's largest country and turn Brazil into a nuclear power.

Mr. da Silva, a left-wing populist who campaigned on promises to improve conditions for the country's vast population of poor, promised military leaders he will forego Brazil's adherence to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and refocus efforts on building up nuclear weapons.

"Why is it that someone asks me to put down my weapons and only keep a slingshot while he keeps a cannon pointed at me?" said Mr. da Silva, addressing a group of high-ranking military officers in Rio de Janeiro earlier this month.

"Brazil will only be respected in the world when it turns into an economic, technological and military power."

In addition to nuclear weapons, Mr. da Silva, who takes over the Brazilian presidency on Jan. 1, has pledged support for a plan that would see Embraer, a Brazilian aircraft manufacturer, begin producing a new jet fighter and missile technology capable of competing with the U.S. F-16.

Mr. da Silva did not make clear why the country needs nuclear weapons in a region where no other country has a similar program. He also did not address how Brazil, which has been promised a US$30-billion loan from the International Monetary Fund to bail out its floundering economy, would pay for the program.

Analysts suggest Mr. da Silva made the pledge to win support from the military, which remains a powerful force in Brazil and has traditionally looked with suspicion on leftist politicians.

The spectre of nuclear weapons emerging under a leftist government in a country with a population of more than 175 million has rekindled Cold War anxieties in Washington. Mr. da Silva, a former union leader and Communist, is close to both Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, the firebrand president of Venezuela.

He has on several occasions attended conferences with Latin American terrorists, such as the FARC guerrillas of Colombia and the Tupac Amaru rebels in Peru. Mr. da Silva has been friends with Mr. Castro for more than 25 years, has praised him as "a great hero" and urged the United States to lift its trade embargo against Cuba.

In 1990, Mr. Castro and Mr. da Silva established the Forum of Sao Paulo, a group of highly-placed Latin American leftists who organize annual conferences to debate issues. Last year the conference was held in Havana and featured members of the FARC, which has waged a long civil war with the Colombian government and is largely financed by drug smuggling.

Also in attendance were high-ranking members of Tupac Amaru, who were responsible for the 1996 hostage taking at the Japanese Embassy in Lima.

"A new terrorist and nuclear/ballistic missile threat may well come from an axis including Cuba's Fidel Castro and a newly elected radical president in Brazil, all with links to Iraq," said Constantine Menges, a senior fellow a the Hudson Institute in Washington and former member of the U.S. National Security Council.

In a recent letter to George W. Bush, the U.S. President, a group of 12 Republican congressmen warned that Mr. da Silva's position on nuclear weapons was a matter of "grave concern." So far, the White House has made no comment on Mr. da Silva's ambitions.

"The fact that Lula associates with the worst elements of Latin America should make clear that this is no moderate," said Paul Weyrich, chair and chief executive of the Free Congress Foundation in Washington. "He may be wearing suits these days, but his politics could end up putting Brazil in a straitjacket."

Mr. da Silva already faces severe financial problems. He has promised extensive social reforms for the poor, who make up more than a third of the population, and needs to reassure foreign investors who fear the government will default on the country's US$250-billion debt. Stock markets in the country have plunged and the Brazilian currency, the real, has fallen sharply in recent months on fears of an economic meltdown.

Mr. da Silva has promised to adhere to the strict budgetary restrictions imposed by the IMF as a condition of the US$30-billion bailout. But, among his own economic advisors, there is little consensus on what the primary focus of a Workers' Party government economic policy might be.

Between 1965 and 1994 the Brazilian military worked to develop nuclear weapons and designed two atomic bombs. The country was reportedly on the verge of testing a nuclear device when the program was shut down by Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who was elected president in 1994.

The program also brought Brazil into alliances with Iraq and China, which sold enriched uranium to Brazil and has invested in the Brazilian aerospace industry. In several campaign speeches, Mr. da Silva said he would welcome a closer relationship with China.

© Copyright  2002 National Post

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