MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil's former President Sarney declares support for Lula

Former President Jose Sarney, a leading figure on the Brazilian right, declared his support Tuesday for leftist candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's bid to win the October presidential election.
Also:
Chile clears mine fields;
Nigeria admits it's broke

"Lula stabilizes the country's politics," said Sarney, who governed from 1985-1990 and is now a senator for the Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB). With the move, Sarney distanced himself from his party, which, as part of the coalition presided over by President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, backs former Health Minister Jose Serra's bid for the presidency. "Brazil is going through a period of great political division, and Lula is a stabilizing factor," said Sarney, who broke with Cardoso last February, after police raided his daughter's offices in a corruption probe, ruining Roseana Sarney's aspirations to become the coalition's presidential candidate for the Oct. 6 election. "Lula matured politically and has learned to negotiate, which has allowed him to develop political strength," Sarney said, after declaring his support for the Workers Party (PT) candidate, something many see as a sign of his rejection of Cardoso and Serra. Sarney, one of Lula's former opponents, is the latest political figure to side with the leftist presidential candidate, who has also secured the support of several key right-wing figures. Sen. Jose Alencar, textile magnate and lawmaker from the rightist Liberal Party (PL), is among Lula's newest supporters and is also his running mate. Sarney said he hopes to convince fellow members of the PMDB, Brazil's largest political force, to support Lula in a potential runoff election, where the PT hopeful is expected to face center-leftist candidate Ciro Gomes. According to a poll released Tuesday, Lula has consolidated his lead in the race for the presidency. The poll, carried out by Vox Populi for the Correo Braziliense newspaper, shows Lula getting 48 percent of the vote in the first round and winning the runoff scheduled for Oct. 27. Gomes, running on behalf of the Labor Front, had 39 percent support. Although Lula had always been the clear leader in the first round of voting, scheduled for Oct. 6, previous polls had shown both candidates tying in a runoff. This was the first poll taken following a state-financed television and radio campaign that gave all candidates free airtime. The poll, conducted Aug. 25-26, shows Lula continuing to lead in the first round of voting, with 34 percent of respondents expressing a preference for him, one percentage point less than in the previous poll. Gomes, whose popularity had been steadily growing, saw his support fall from 32 percent to 25 percent. Meanwhile, ruling party candidate Jose Serra's support rose from 10 percent to 15 percent. Some 2,468 likely voters in 154 municipalities across Brazil were surveyed for the poll, which has a 2.2 percent margin of error. This was the first poll to show gains by Serra, whose candidacy had not taken off during the first 10 weeks of campaigning, with the former health minister stuck in a tie for third place with only 11 percent support. "Serra is regaining the stature he always had," Vox Populi director Marcos Coimbra told Correo Braziliense. The poll nevertheless indicated that Serra would lose a runoff to Lula with 35 percent to the PT candidate's 48 percent of the vote. He would also lose to Gomes, 32 percent to 46 percent. Although Serra is showing a gain for the first time in the campaign, analysts said they were unsure of how fast he could recover. Serra is the favorite of the financial markets, which see him as guaranteeing the continuation of the economic policies started eight years ago by President Cardoso.

Chile clears mine fields

Chile this week cleared 76,388 anti personnel mines that had been planted along the Peruvian border during the last twenty five years. The ceremony was headed by Chilean president Ricardo Lagos together with Defence and Foreign Affairs ministers in the framework of the Ottawa Convention. However Chilean forces admit that there are still 122,661 antipersonnel mines in other border areas, most of them dating back to the seventies under the Pinochet regime, when Chile was almost involved in armed conflicts with Argentina and Peru. Commanders of the Chilean Army and Navy, together with representatives from international organizations were also present when President Lagos activated the explosive charge that destroyed a symbolic batch of mines just twenty miles from Peru. "This is direct consequence of good relations with our neighbours", said Mr. Lagos. "All the advances achieved with our good friends the Argentines, our good friends the Peruvians and our good friends the Bolivians, has led us to this wonderful event", emphasized Mr. Lagos. The destruction of the anti personnel mines in the Tarapacá Region, next to Peru and Bolivia was the first by Chile since it ratified last March the Ottawa Convention, but the fourth since 1999 when Chile adhered to the international agreement. The Convention refers to the clearance and destruction of all antipersonnel mines both planted and stores. "All antipersonnel mines belonging to Chile are now in magazines, or in clearly identified, delimited and signalled fields. We have no antipersonnel mines in areas that are not under our control or officially identified", underlined Defence Minister Michelle Bachelet during the ceremony. In accordance with the Ottawa Convention Chile named a De-mining Committee that must elaborate a "Transparency Report" to be presented in United Nations, plus a demining program for the coming ten years, and the implementation of humanitarian assistance to anti personnel victims.

Nigeria admits it's broke

Nigeria's Central Bank Governor announced this Tuesday that the country could no longer service its 33 billion US dollars foreign debt because oil revenue had collapsed and other internal policies had failed. Nigeria's foreign exchange reserves dropped to a critical 8 billion US dollars in July, a fifth of where they stood nine months ago. "The deficit was being financed drawing external reserves, so it was decided to halt repayments", said Joseph Sanusi Central Bank governor. In his announcement Mr. Sanusi made no distinction between sovereign lenders, private lenders and the Paris Club. Nigeria that only recently recovered democracy is in the midst of political turmoil with the ruling party unable to control Parliament and the country's economy in disarray. Bloating budgets, rampant corruption and massive spending have turned mineral resources rich Nigeria into an international pariah. Nigeria, together with South Africa the two leading black nations of Africa, is also a full member of OPEC.