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Monday, March 15, 2010

Filho de puta: Teodoro Petkoff breaks with Lula over his support to Cuban murderers

I cannot stress enough the importance of this mini-editorial of Teodoro Petkoff, Tal Cual editor, published today in Tal Cual. He has been a long time admirer of Brazil's president Lula da Silva. But the words of this one justifying the murders of political prisoner in Cuba were too much, and outranked any good that Lula might have done.  We must welcome such a break up because it is a sign of things to come as the complacent left cannot remain complacent any longer in front of such a blinding reality. My feelings, exactly. Below the translation AND the original Spanish for those who cannot access Tal Cual

Filho de puta / Son of bitch [whore sense of course]

When Lula won Brazil's election a best seller was published with the title of Filho do Brasil which means Son of Brazil.  More recently, based on this book, a movie was produced with the same title and the same theme: the career of the Nordeste kid who from extreme poverty made it to the president's office, through years of hard and devoted struggle, in particular under military dictatorships.



But when this chronicler hears him today, philosophizing over the Cuban "justice" ad over the Cuban political prisoners, what one wants to say is, in all truth, that he is a filho de puta.  I do not give a damn that he had a great presidential tenure, that his popularity is enormous, that he has combined the macroeconomic good sense of Cardoso with his own social concerns, to improve significantly the fate of the poorest of his co-citizens.

I do not give a rat's ass that he belongs to this modern left, very different of this pseudo leftist fraud that Chacumbele [Chavez] has set up here.

What [Lula] has said about the political prisoners of Cuba, comparing them to common delinquents in Brazilian jails is an unforgivable infamy that makes me lose all the respect that I had for him.  One might agree or not with the extreme action of a hunger strike but what you cannot do, and Lula did, is to trash the immense spirit of sacrifice of those who, in front of a dictatorship like the Cuban one, all but use suicide to make their rights heard.  Because a hunger strike in Cuba is to face a real death threat.  It is like doing a hunger strike in front of Hitler.  If Lula does not have the moral and political courage to demand a civilized and human behavior to the Cuban government which would be the right thing to do, the decent thing to do, and what a left which respects itself would do, is to have at the very least the decency to shut up.
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Filho de puta

Cuando Lula ganó las elecciones en Brasil apareció un gran éxito de librería con el título O Filho do Brasil, lo cual quiere decir El hijo de Brasil. Más recientemente, y con base en ese libro, se produjo una película con el mismo título y el mismo tema: la carrera del chamo nordestino, que desde la miseria llegó a la presidencia de su país, a través de años de lucha dura y sacrificada, sobre todo durante el tiempo de las dictaduras militares.

Pero cuando este minicronista lo oye hoy, filosofando sobre la "justicia" cubana y sobre los presos políticos cubanos, lo que provoca decirle es que, en verdad, es un filho de puta. Me importa un rábano que haya hecho una gran presidencia, que su popularidad sea enorme, que haya combinado la sensatez macroeconómica de Cardoso con su propia sensibilidad social, para mejorar significativamente la suerte de sus compatriotas más pobres.

Me importa un pepino que forme parte de una izquierda moderna, muy diferente a esta estafa, dizque izquierdista, que ha montado Chacumbele aquí.

Lo que ha dicho sobre los presos políticos de Cuba, comparándolos con los delincuentes comunes, presos en las cárceles brasileñas, es una canallada imperdonable, que me hace perderle todo el respeto que le tuve. Se puede compartir o no el recurso extremo de la huelga de hambre, pero lo que no se puede hacer ­y Lula lo hizo­ es basurear el inmenso espíritu de sacrificio de quienes, frente a una dictadura como la cubana, prácticamente recurren al suicidio para hacer valer sus derechos. Porque huelga de hambre en Cuba es arrostrar el peligro real de muerte. Es como haberle hecho una huelga de hambre a Hitler. Si Lula no tiene el coraje moral y político de reclamarle un comportamiento civilizado y humano al gobierno cubano, que sería lo apropiado, lo decente y lo de una izquierda que se respeta a si misma, podría tener, al menos la vergüenza de quedarse callado.

8 comments:

  1. Milonga7:12 PM

    My thoughts exactly and certainly glad that thanks to these words, the world is seeing what Lula is really like. A link to this op-ed by Estado de São Paulo that among other things recalls Nelson Mandela's own hunger strike, and words by Castro himself who once said: "Tyrants tremble in the presence men that are capable of dieing for their ideals".
    http://www.estadao.com.br/estadaodehoje/20100311/not_imp522553,0.php Vargas Llosa also wrote about his indignation with Lula, definitely an eye-opener (which he stressed by being absent together with Chavez to Piñera's swearing in as new Chilean president).

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  2. Milonga8:50 PM

    By the way, in Portuguese, it's not "filho de puta", but "filho DA puta". Lula deserves either!

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  3. Anonymous11:33 PM

    Hello Daniel,

    That´s the full frontal Lula! Get used to it. We here in Br never had any illusions whatsoeever about this POS. Nice you guys are now seing him for what he relly is. As Milonga mentionned, um grandecíssimo filho duma puta!

    Best,

    Tony do Rio.

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  4. Tony

    Any effect of this on Roussef campaign?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous2:53 AM

    Daniel,

    He plays for his own crowd. And they love it, believe it or not. On the other hand, the mostly poor are in thrall of his bolsa-familia handouts, and are quite loyal to him. Even if they have access to internet and get to know about these stories. I think the damage to Dilma's campaign will be minimum, unfortunately.

    The bigger negative impact of his "coming out of the closet" is felt on the educated middle classes. But that is still a small effect though. The economy is doing well and people tend to be mostly happy about it. Many still see these despicable attitudes as something that one could forgive in person of such a low education. They still want to believe he is a "bon sauvage", of a fundamentally good nature, which he is most definitely not. Do you see the similitude? I am quite worried about the long term future. I have always seen you guys as the canary in the mine.

    A third term Lula (as he expects to in 2014) will be a totally new ball game. In fact, much more similar to his good friend HC's politics than many expect.

    Take care and watch out!

    Tony.

    ReplyDelete
  6. That is the big problem with the so-called "mainstream left" in Latin America. They refuse to see Castro and Chavez for the thugs they really are.

    The best thing you can say about Lula is he seems to respect democracy in his own country and he also recognizes the practical limits of the hyperpopulism that permeates so much of the left. Once you get beyond that, he is pretty much your classic leftist demagogue. Anyone who says they are "for the poor" (regardless of what they actually do for the poor) or is against American "imperialism" is automatically given a pass for any and all evils.

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  7. Anonymous4:12 AM

    Lula is a drunk - no sorry, he is a poor soul addicted to alcohol who needs to go to rehab asap.
    It explains his ever more erratic behavior, recent political stupid policy, memory lapses and ever deteriorating hygienically challenged appearance (looks). The Chuguire Bipolar got it in one of their videos, showing him boozing like there is no tomorrow.
    US YT

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  8. Anonymous3:41 PM

    A brave person with access to Lula's press conferences is what we need...

    Not to call Lula anything vulgar... that does not hurt at all.

    But to ask him right to his face, loudly and clearly how he feels: because that statement puts him squarely in the company of the brazen, unashamed apologists of Franco, Salazar and Pinochet.

    Let's see if the guy has any conscience about him to bite into.

    ReplyDelete

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