This Tuesday morning Armínio Fraga Neto, the Soros man in Brazil, overplaced Francisco Lopes as the new president of the BCB -- the Brazilian Central Bank. The nomination of a Soros agent for the second financial federal function in importance is going to backfire against president Fernando Henrique Cardoso. It will be another nail in his political coffin, since indignation has been the most common first reaction at the left and, to a lesser extent, at the right too. According to the well informed JB radio, of Rio de Janeiro, Soros's first words of "surprise" recommend Brazil to prove now to be a trustworthy __partner__ of the international financial __community__. Bad joke!
Finance Minister Pedro Malan, the closest ally of US banks in Brazil, has menaced to resign if he could not be allowed to fire Lopes. President FH Cardoso, that is pathetically being weakened each passing day, accepted the former's ultimatum. Lopes had just overplaced about two weeks ago Gustavo Franco as president of the BCB. Lopes was the mind behind the recent devaluation of the real, though Franco, an ultraorthodox neoliberal, sternly opposed it.
Once in office, Lopes soon entered into a public collision course with the Argentinian president Carlos Menem as this latter required financial compensations from Brazil over the real devaluation affair and strongly advised the Cardoso team on the needing of a semiconfiscation of debts through dollarization and on the adoption of the currency board system (the so called Bonex plan as applied in Argentina). Menem even suggested that the whole Latin America substitutes the US dollar for its national currencies as soon as possible. To this last remark Lopes wittily answered in an interview: why Menem doesn't propose outrightly that we all adopt the Constitution of Puerto Rico?
So, the dismissal of Francisco Lopes was another victory of neoliberal colonialism over the Brazilian people. Oh, needless to say that Menem often thinks that he is the Viceroy of Latin America too...
In solidarity, Roberto Magellan
Paix entre nous, guerre aux tyrans (....) Ouvriers, paysans, nous sommes Le grand PARTI DES TRAVAILLEURS. (L' Internationale)