Presidential race in Brazil: A man against three communist women

By Julio Kzar (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Aecio Neves

A curious fact will happen in the presidential elections in Brazil on October 5: A man – Aecio Neves – runs for president against three communist women – Dilma Rousseff, Marina Silva and Luciana Genro – all with strong links to the political regime in Cuba. All of them were already visiting the Caribbean island of Fidel Castro and use to weave praises to Cuban dictator and his entourage of followers, as Hugo Chaves, Nicolas Maduro, respectively former and current President of Venezuela, Evo Morales – President of Bolivia, and Cristina Kirshner, of Argentina. 
It is a difficult battle to Aecio Neves, former governor of the state of Minas Gerais and current Senator of the Republic. Social Democrat, Aecio seeks to overthrow the dynasty of the Workers Party (PT), which has lasted almost 12 years – eight with former President Lula da Silva, and four now with Dilma Rousseff, who tries to re-election. 
The return of Aecio, according to some Brazilian political analysts, will mean the return of the heirs of former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso (FHC) to command the nation. FHC is the "father of the Real Plan", a program that brought down inflation in Brazil in 1994, when he was finance minister. This achievement qualified him and elevated him to the point of being elected president in 1995, where he remained for eight years, until the arrival of Lula da Silva.

Luciana Genro, Marina Silva and Dilma Rousseff

From poor and humble origins, Lula surprised the world, putting Brazil in the leadership of the emerging countries, the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). After experiencing a boom in consumption, mainly for cars, appliances and new high-tech equipment, Lula was reelected after creating the Bolsa Familia, a social program that distributes income to poor people. In the wake of that program, he also managed to elect his successor: Dilma Rousseff, the first woman president of Brazil. 

But Lula and Dilma saw their party involved in several corruption scandals, with some party members and members of Congress being convicted and imprisoned. The latest scandal involving the oil company Petrobras, Brazil's largest company and one of the most profitable in the world. Diversion of public funds that led to the state-owned purchasing and repurchasing the Pasadena Refining, in the United States, at a cost of billions of dollars, money which did not yield any financial return to Brazil. 
Despite all these stories of corruption, Lula and Dilma maintains control with an iron fist of Congress, Senate, Supreme Court, Media and institutes of public opinion research. 

For this reason, Dilma Rousseff started at first place in the election campaign, according to election poll. Aecio was second and former governor of the state of Pernambuco, Eduardo Campos, appeared in third. However, with the untimely and suspicious death of Eduardo Campos, in a plane crash, his vice presidential candidate Marina Silva, took over the presidential candidacy by the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB). Surprisingly, Marina overcame Aecio in the polls on voting intentions and even comes to being in front of Rousseff on some occasions. But everyone knows that Marina is originally from PT, besides having communist ideas.


Dilma saw her prestige down when her government funded, with money from the Brazilian people, the construction of the port of Mariel, Cuba, and forgave the debts of African countries ruled by bloodthirsty dictators. The third woman candidate, Luciana Genro, that begins to emerge in the polls, after she participated in many debates and interviews on TV, also shows leftist tendencies. Genro can be seen in photos taken in Havana, next to posters of Che Guevara, with challenging poses. She is in favor of the invasion of private property in Brazil. Ie, a communist with badge and card-carrying membership in the party.
Aecio Neves must fight against these three communist women candidates. The latest polls say Luciana Genro not enough to be a threat, but can be a big surprise. Rousseff and Marina show oscillation and falls, while Aecio regained ascendent line. Perhaps the influence of social networks on the internet where Aecio is unbeaten in front of the other candidates, denying and contradicting the official surveys. Everything points to a runoff in the Brazilian elections, but with whom?