In the distant 2005, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was asked by Folha in Rome, where the then president attended the funeral of João Paulo 2º, if he considered Cuba to be a democracy.
As had happened before and on many occasions, the PT tried to take a tangent by muttering something about the need to help Fidel Castro’s island build its democracy, just to spark criticism of the embargo. American.
After 16 years, nothing has changed in PT’s worldview. On Monday (12), the party published a note in which it communicates its “support for the Cuban people and government” amidst the major street protests against the dictatorship now led by Miguel Díaz-Canel.
The text is a perfection in not mentioning the protests in Havana and at the same time blaming Washington for all that goes wrong on the island.
The US embargo is indeed cold war rubble lost in the 21st century, just like the Cuban communist regime. They are making a comeback.
The brief period of liberalization of relations, sponsored by Barack Obama, foreshadowed a possible outcome for the country – and it is not a question of defending that Cuba becomes again a “plantation” of the Americans, as in the days of Fulgencio Batista.
There are far more doubts than certainties in the ongoing protests, not least because the island is experiencing a government-sponsored internet blockade.
Of course, Joe Biden’s support for the protesters leads to the accusation that there is a Fifth Column at work, but that seems irrelevant in the face of the repressive apparatus put in place by the regime.
But such opacity does not move the PT, let alone free radicals like the activists of the Partido da Causa Operária, an acronym famous after attacking a handful of toucans in a joint demonstration against Jair Bolsonaro, wanting to fight in front of the Cuban consulate. in São Paulo.
Worse for Lula and his plan to return to the presidency in 2022, preferably with Bolsonaro as a bloodless opponent – for now, growing stronger according to the most recent data from Datafolha.
As with the issue of corruption, which the party wants to keep in the background because of the obvious window that the discussion guarantees it, talking about Cuba is all that the PT would not want.
In addition to highlighting the monolithic anachronism of the PT, support for Cubans fits pocketnarismo like a glove and its “go to Cuba” or “go to Caracas” as a standard curse for leftists since the 2018 campaign.
Of course, a PT will be able to point out that Bolsonaro has more in common with the leftist Venezuelan dictatorship of Chavismo than with Lula, but it will be a dispute between ideological rags and shreds.
In immediate communication, he gained in drug trafficking. The presidential son and social media guru of the Carlos Clan has already taken to Facebook with the review ready to go. It will only be a matter of time before they remember the friendly funding from PT governments for works like the port of Mariel, Cuba.
Lula, of course, can take advantage of the annoyance this monotonous speech has caused in the electorate. Bolsonaro’s voting intention is parked at 24%, Datafolha showed, while the former president is riding 46% in two tested first-round scenarios.
However, as the campaign and the elections draw closer, it seems clear that these issues, corruption and support for dictators, will come back to the fore. Even if they are not decisive, they are uncomfortable reminders for candidate Lula about the DNA of the party that wants to rule the country again.