| The Americans declared the Brazilian leader a drunkard On Sunday, the authoritative American newspaper The New York Times tried to divert the attention of fellow citizens from the scandal of violence against Iraqi prisoners, turning the arrows on the fate of the Brazilians, who are allegedly threatened by the alcoholism of 58-year-old President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Because of this, the head of state forgets “some Portuguese words”, and if sometimes he says something, it’s strange things. The president, the publication assures, does not miss the opportunity to drink a glass of beer, drink a glass of whiskey or the traditional Brazilian cocktail “cachaça”. This newspaper also explains the president's political failures in the fight against corruption and poverty.
The press service of the Brazilian President called the publication “groundless, slanderous and an example of the worst kind of journalism.” The President intends to sue the newspaper. The Brazilian Ambassador to the United States will soon inform its editor about this. One of the Brazilian parliamentarians, defending the country's prestige, said: “In fact, the foreign policy of the States is drunk.” Brazil's official statement stressed that the president is "moderate in his habits and his behavior does not differ from that of other Brazilians."
Lula, as the Brazilian president is called by his fellow citizens, is popular. In the elections in the fall of 2002, he received more than 61% of the vote. For the first time in 40 years, a left-wing politician has become president of Brazil. Lula comes from a working-class background and is an anti-globalist. His main program is called “Zero Hunger”: this is so that “every Brazilian can eat three times a day without the help of charities and soup kitchens.”
Lula does not shy away from populism. A sensation last March was the audience he gave to a Brazilian airport cleaner who returned $10,000 in cash to a passenger who had forgotten it in the toilet. At the beginning of his presidency, Lulu made a sensational voyage to Liberty Island to visit his old (more than 20 years) acquaintance Fidel Castro in the midst of the US-Cuban aggravation over Cuban dissidents. Washington was quite annoyed by this, as well as by the Brazilian's criticism of the US position in the WTO. Katerina LABETSKAYA |
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