MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

President Lula asks for patience.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, asked Brazilians for patience and criticised those who are “in a hurry” and the “cry babies”, because “I'm not planning to be muddled or precipitated into the needed changes”. Mr. Lula's remarks follow protests from the radical Landless Movement, a group hoping for mass land ownership reform in the country.

The group last week called off a two-month truce with the government, saying it needed to apply pressure to speed up the reform process. They have already taken over farms in five different states since the end of the truce. But its leaders have said they are planning far more land seizures in April, as well as to hold marches and occupy government buildings.

"It's not easy running the country, but we're going to change it. But with nature's patience and the people's wisdom", expressed Mr. Lula da Silva during a visit to a car manufacturing plant in Sao Paulo. "We won't be provoked by those who are in a hurry, and you can be sure our land reform will improve people's quality of life.

Lula's Workers' Party has always been a strong supporter of the Landless Movement's demands, with Brazil having one of the most unequal land distributions in the world. But now in government Lula has found himself severely constrained by a lack of resources.

While addressing workers in the manufacturing plant president Lula da Silva appealed to football metaphors to explain his current government style. "We're going to honour all promised reforms but calmly, like in football. Last Wednesday Corinthians played madly, and just managed a draw. On Sunday they played calmly, thinking, with their brains and won by an ample score", said Mr. Lula da Silva.

The new Lula da Silva administration has lately began to be criticised not only by the anxious landless peasants, but by coalition partners who claim the current economic program is a mere extension from former president Henrique Cardoso policies. Particularly vulnerable has been the decision to continue with a very high basic interest rate (now standing at 26,5%), a crucial instrument to keep inflation under control and help bring down the debt/GDP ratio.