MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguayan ruling coalition and Vazquez host ex president Dilma Rousseff with deep solidarity

Dilma Rousseff with president Tabare Vazquez at the Suarez presidential residence

Uruguay's president Tabare Vazquez met with the former president of Brazil Dilma Rousseff and “Illustrious visitor” of Montevideo at the official presidential residence in Suarez. Rousseff arrived in Montevideo on Thursday and displayed an intense political agenda on Friday which culminated on Saturday with her meeting with Vazquez.

 The Uruguayan Executive site briefly mentioned the meeting, showed some pictures and a video of the two leaders and said that Vazquez and Rousseff are “long time friends”.

The main reason for Rousseff's presence in Montevideo was an invitation to attend an “international event in defense of democracy and against neo-liberalism” organized by Uruguay's powerful labor unions grouping PIT-CNT.

It was the former president's first visit overseas since she was impeached by Congress and removed from office. Rousseff is currently living in Porto Alegre, capital of the neighboring state of Rio Grande do Sul and drove into Uruguay in a small heavily guarded caravan.

Besides the labor unions organization the Uruguayan ruling coalition Broad Front also sponsored Rousseff's visit and cabinet ministers and lawmakers accompanied her during her busy political Friday, which included clapping hands when the crowd started shouting “Out with Temer”, in reference to the current president who now leads Brazil. An estimated twenty non official bodyguards provided by the Broad Front were responsible for the leader's security.

Following the late Friday morning rally at the Liberty square in downtown Montevideo, where union leaders and Rousseff preached democracy and blasted conservative neoliberal policies and governments implementing them, --and which convened less than five hundred people--, the ex president headed for the HQ offices of the Broad Front a few blocks away.

At the HQ, Rousseff shared lunch with vice-president Raul Sendic, ministers, lawmakers and top officials from the Broad Front, and then walked to Town Hall where she was officially declared “Illustrious Visitor” of Montevideo by mayor Daniel Martinez in a ceremony that also turned into a political rally with speeches, chants and cheers for “Dilma”, and an occasion for pictures with supporters.

Back at the Broad Front ceremonial hall Rousseff made a brief speech thanking her hosts for the invitation and all the support displayed while the crowd started to shout “Dilma president, out with Temer”, which was followed and clapped by ministers and government lawmakers attending the gathering.

In a press conference Rousseff underlined the “courageous and integral” attitude of Uruguay in supporting Venezuela as chair of Mercosur despite the strong pressure from Argentine and Brazilian governments, and again praised Uruguay for pioneering the eight hours and women's ballot in the Americas.

However Rousseff also warned that the opposition in Venezuela has a strong social foundation, so “we need to find a peaceful solution, without precipitation since turning back is going to be difficult”.

Further on Rousseff said that Uruguay's Broad Front “is something which inspires us, we need this example of how to build consensuses and create a flexible political force which admits different tones and emphasises”

The former president also insisted she was removed from office by a “congressional coup” implemented by Brazil's elites, and added “we tried to convince the powerful groups to share the brunt of the economic crisis, but they refused point blank”. Rousseff specifically named FIESP, the powerful manufacturing lobby in Sao Paulo, and claimed that the taxing system in Brazil is highly “regressive”, those who are dependent and receive a salary pay taxes, but those who are not in a payroll “don't pay”.

Rousseff also expressed fear that “democracy in Brazil is not guaranteed. I am concerned that we're moving back in Brazil, there are suspension of rights, restrictions of others and of opportunities, much of which is not mentioned in the media” and the high concentration of wealth threatens democracy.

In an overview of the political situation in Brazil, Rousseff said that the atomization of political parties, created mainly to have access to government financing and prime time in television with no respect for ideology or government programs, was making Brazil ungovernable.

“Fragmentation of parties is a very serious problem in Brazil. Overall presidents in Brazil are elected responding to the electorate interests, but congress is more conservative with cultural, oligarchic, regional, ethnic filters. Traditionally the political centre of Brazil was democratic and progressive but it has now moved to the right, it has become neoliberal”.

As to Mercosur, Rousseff said that she favored countries negotiating trade deals in a block, “no single country can survive globalization”, and trade agreements are “a complex business”. She then mentioned that in the US much of the population believes that the impoverishment of the middle class is because of free trade deals, and similarly in Europe, and further surprises can be expected in France and the Netherlands.

More specifically on Mercosur trade negotiations, and based on her experience, Rousseff said that France, Ireland and Poland are against the EU/Mercosur accord because they refuse to open their agriculture to foreign competition, and “we can't reach an agreement unless agriculture is included”. Likewise both US presidential candidates are far more protectionist, and that is why “during my administration the emphasis was on the rest of the Americas, Asia and Africa and less in Europe and the US”.

Nevertheless Rousseff said she was proud of what was achieved by her party in thirteen years of government: “extreme poverty was eliminated; we're out of the world's hungry peoples map, poverty is down but part of them are still of extreme fragility and you have to protect their rights”.

Finally Rousseff admitted it was not possible to anticipate what could happen in Brazil's presidential election of 2018, but underlined that her political mentor and ally Lula da Silva was well positioned to return and this generates fear in the elites and thus the campaigns against him.