São Paulo forum reinforces Lula’s negative image in the West

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) will speak at the general meeting of the São Paulo Forum, which will take place this Thursday (29). The event brings together left-wing leaders in Latin America and should leave the petista’s reputation even more frayed internally and also abroad. Experts estimate that Lula has been making the wrong bets when approaching dictators and should tarnish his image even more internationally if he reinforces the anti-Western discourse that predominates in the group’s meetings.

Founded in 1990 by Lula and former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, the Foro de São Paulo (FSP) was created with the aim of uniting the Latin American left after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 33 years, the organization has consolidated itself as a force that tries to impose leftist agendas on the subcontinent, supporting criminal groups such as the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and turning a blind eye to dictatorships.

Currently, 123 parties from 27 countries are members of the Forum. On Brazilian soil, according to the organization’s website, the Workers’ Party (PT), the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB), the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB) and the Democratic Labor Party (PDT) are on the list of members of the group. Sought by the report, however, the PDT advisory reported that it is no longer part of the group, even though the party’s name is on the list of members on the Foro de São Paulo website.

For Deysi Cioccari, PhD in Political Science, Lula is “providing arguments for the opposition” by posing with dictators and confirming his presence at the São Paulo Forum. According to the expert, the PT is betting on a high political risk, taking into account that currently the Forum is not a consensus even within the PT. “Lula has doubled down on sensitive issues and [sua presença no Foro de São Paulo] will certainly reinforce the idea that he supports dictatorships”, ponders Cioccari.

At the end of May, the Brazilian president tried to show strength by bringing together the presidents of South America in Brasilia for the Summit of South America. Such an effort, however, was undermined by himself with misleading statements about Venezuela. When meeting with the Venezuelan dictator, Nicolás Maduro, Lula said that Venezuela was “victim of a narrative of anti-democracy and authoritarianism”.

The speech of the Brazilian president is totally wrong. Venezuela has an extensive history of crimes, including arrests and murders of political opponents, censorship of political parties and heavy repression against free opinion.

The allegations caused reactions from right-wing and also left-wing heads of state, who rebuked the PT’s statements. Just last week, during a trip to France, Lula also had a meeting with the Cuban dictator, Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez. In his Twitter account, the petista said that the two discussed “bilateral issues that were abandoned in recent years”.

For Cezar Roedel, Master in International Relations from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS) and Doctor in Philosophy from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Lula’s participation in the São Paulo Forum is yet another proof of their “subservience to models of dictatorial regimes”. “[Tais afirmações e atitudes de Lula] already damaged his image in relation to the rest of the world, because it is understood that the foreign policy he has been exercising is in favor of his personal interest and not what interests the country”, he points out.

Meeting of the Foro de São Paulo takes place in Brasília and has “Arraiá do PT”

After having meetings suspended for three years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Foro de São Paulo chose Brasília to host its 26th annual meeting. Although the official website of the organization does not make clear the reasons for choosing the Brazilian capital, the fact that Lula is the current president would have weighed in that decision, since the PT is one of the founders of the organization, according to the report.

The event starts this Thursday (29), at 7 pm, and Lula will be one of the speakers at the opening ceremony of the annual meeting. The São Paulo Forum schedule has a schedule for the entire weekend in the federal capital. In addition to lectures and seminars, event participants were also invited to participate in Arraiá do PT, in the Setor de Clubes Sul. Tickets cost up to R$5,000.

In view of this, federal deputies Carla Zambelli (PL-SP) and Coronel Meira (PL-PE) presented a representation to the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) and to the Electoral Public Ministry (MPE) to suspend the event. In the document, the parliamentarians state that, when analyzing the event’s programming, “a clear damage to public property, to the democratic regime and to administrative probity is observed”, in addition to evidencing “foreign partisan interference in the national political agenda”.

“The “Foro de São Paulo” is a threat to the legal order and the Brazilian democratic regime, with the reception of authoritarian ideas and ideals, of a dictatorial nature, especially when one hears, when one gives shelter to such ideologies, to such regimes of governments, so it is evident that this symbiosis of ideas, during the meeting, will interfere in the way the Brazilian State will be governed”, wrote the parliamentarians.

In addition to the suspension of events, the parliamentarians asked for a “prohibition on the entry into national territory of representatives of the Communist Party of Cuba, United Socialist Party of Venezuela and Sandinista National Liberation Front of Nicaragua”.

São Paulo forum reinforces Lula’s negative image in the West

For the experts consulted by the People’s Gazette, Lula makes a mistake, once again, by attending the event. “The left has always flirted with these dictatorial characters but, until now, with a certain parsimony. The fact is that there is no good dictatorship and Lula seems to have completely forgotten that. Discretion seems to have remained in other times. Certainly, Lula’s presence gives an indication of a careful look at these dictatorships”, analyzes Cioccari.

As for Roedel, the participation of the Brazilian president is not a surprise and Lula should take advantage of the opportunity to repeat some speeches. “Probably he should speak about Latin American integration and Latin American sovereignty, something that in my view is completely intangible and ideological. Perhaps that silly anti-Americanism on the left will also emerge and there will be some criticism of the issue of currencies”, explains the expert citing criticisms that the PT has already made about the hegemony of the dollar.

Attacks on the United States are one of the characteristics of the São Paulo Forum, which, on the other hand, sees China as an “influence for peace”. The Chinese government, however, is accused of taking political prisoners, persecuting religious minorities, violating human rights and adopting laws that do not allow freedom of expression. For Roedel, by promoting the São Paulo Forum, Lula only reinforces the negative image he has carried since he made controversial statements about Venezuela and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Roedel claims that, by constantly meeting with dictators, Lula “has already harmed himself with those countries that carry out serious foreign policies, because his declarations show that he has been defending his personal interests.” The expert also points out that the current Brazilian president seems lost in the midst of his strategies: “Lula seems to want to create some new type of global governance that not even he understands”, he concludes.

The Brazilian government has argued in its defense that it is necessary to talk to all governments without taking sides or interfering in internal affairs.

Lost and attached to the past, the petista is tied to a left that no longer exists. “It seems to me that the left [brasileira] it has been lost since the fall of Dilma”, analyzes Cioccari. According to the political scientist, the bloc tries to remain united in an “outdated” ideal where the intention would be to keep the ideological flame still burning.

For Cezar Roedel, the concepts on which the organization is based are “mistaken”. In the report, the specialist points out that the group that claims to seek “Latin American sovereignty and regional integration”, in fact, has “diffuse” interests based on ideology and association with dictatorships and even criminal organizations.

Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez are praised at the São Paulo Forum

In the group created by the dictator Fidel Castro, other tyrants also gain a prominent place. Annually, the São Paulo Forum holds a meeting to discuss issues and implement points of integration between member countries. On these occasions, participants use a base document to guide the discussions at the meetings. In this year’s text, one of the points extols the “firmness and advances of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua”. The countries are considered left-wing dictatorships and their respective leaders are accused in international courts of political crimes and crimes against human rights.

“The presidential victories in Mexico, Saint Lucia, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Honduras, Peru and Chile are eloquent examples. The growing leadership of the presidents of Mexico, Honduras, Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia and Brazil was decisive in preventing the attempts imperialists to divide and fragment the region”, says the text.

In one of the 99 points of the base document, there is also space to exalt the former dictator of Venezuela Hugo Chávez: “[…] we must remember the death of Commander Hugo Chávez 10 years ago, after coming to power democratically, suffering a coup and returning to the presidency. Chávez started a new chapter in Venezuela and throughout the continent, by becoming an example of the fight against neoliberalism and imperialism, initiating the concrete confrontation of the legacies of military dictatorships in Latin America and the Caribbean”.