BRAZIL: BRAZILIANS PROTEST AGAINST ECONOMIC REFORMS PROPOSED BY PRESIDENT LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA

Record ID: 645925

  • Title: BRAZIL: BRAZILIANS PROTEST AGAINST ECONOMIC REFORMS PROPOSED BY PRESIDENT LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA
  • Date: 17th June 2003
  • Summary: (U7) RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (JUNE 17, 2003) (REUTERS TV) LV OF "WAKE-UP LULA" PROTEST PAN OF PEOPLE IN DEMONSTRATION SLV/CU EFFIGY OF PRESIDENT LUIZ INACIO "LULA" DA SILVA (2 SHOTS) SLV/CU OF MUSICIANS DEMONSTRATING (2 SHOTS) SLV BANNER READING IN PORTUGUESE: "It has been twenty years since Brazil last grew, Lula, react." LV/SV VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS (6 SHOTS) MCU (Portuguese) PROTEST LEADER WILSON SOBRA SAYING: "The goal of this demosntration is to call attention to the Lula government, so that he does not ally himself with bankers, so that he respects his compromise with the people of our country." PAN/LV PROTESTERS (2 SHOTS) MCU (Portuguese) BRAZILIAN AIRLINE EMPLOYEE, ALEXANDRE JAHATY, SAYING: "It is his duty to listen to the workers. Just as he often asked to be heard during demonstrations, we too ask that he listen to us now." LV/SV OF PROTESTERS (3 SHOTS) MCU (Portuguese) RETIRED WORKER, MARIA DO SOCORRO, SAYING: "I regret having voted for him." LV OF DEMONSTRATION
  • Embargoed: 2nd July 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BRASILIA AND RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA3VKVJ1D96LVOEMMHRUI0PZOKA
  • Story Text: Thousands of Brazilians have taken to the streets to protest against economic reforms proposed by Socialist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, which could sharply cut pension benefits.
    The protesters, part of a movement known in Portuguese as "Wake-up Lula, before it is too late," took to the streets of Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday, June 17, to voice their discontent with the latest economic and salary reforms mandated by the Workers' Party President.
    Luis Inacio "Lula" da Silva, who took office in January after a landslide election victory, has proposed cutting benefits for state employees as part of ta package of economic reforms.
    The proposed cuts have put the President at loggerheads with a group that has been a longtime supporter of his Workers' Party.
    Discontent among various segments of society have grown, as more and more Brazilians express their discontent with Lula's economic measures.
    Earlier in the month, Some 30,000 demonstrators marched to protest against the government.
    Protest organizer, Wilson Sobra, said:
    "The goal of this demonstration is to call attention to the Lula government, so that he does not ally himself with banker, so that he respect his compromise with the people of our country."
    Brazil's opposition has accused the country's first centre-left government of failing to live up to key campaign promises, in an opening shot after a six-month honeymoon of virtual silence.
    The Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), has heavily criticised government plans to raise the retirement age for state workers to 60 from 53 for men and to 55 from 48 for women, and to levy a tax on the pensions of retired public employees.
    While public workers number just 2 million people in the country of 175 million, they are an articulate group that can pressure lawmakers, who will vote in coming months on the pension reform.
    Yet some analysts believe Lula's long-term plan does take into account the best interests of the Brazilian majority.
    Political analyst, Clovis Brigadao, said: "I believe that Lula's government is making these reforms in defense of the nation's best interests, eventhough he might be affecting some sectors, especially those of the public sector.
    He will redo his calculations in a more egalitarian fashion, from a salary and pension standpoint."
    Lula, a former labour leader and Brazil's first working-class president, has said reforming the debt-ridden public pension system, which last year cost the government 56 billion reals ($19 billion USD), is crucial to putting Latin America's largest economy on a path of sustainable growth.
    Since Cardoso handed over Latin America's largest country to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in January, the new administration has largely had a free run.
    The centrist parties of Cardoso's former coalition have struggled to find a political space after Lula moved his Workers' Party to the centre and adopted many of the former government's market-friendly economic policies.
    Lula is still enjoying huge popularity and the opposition's job has become harder as Lula has made reforms of the debt-ridden public pension and cumbersome tax systems -- key Cardoso policies -- central to his government.
    The former metal worker, has hit back, saying he has been able to prove that a nation's respectability is not determined by weather such nation speaks English or Spanish, but by its "character, ethics and concrete projects."
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