Castro cash claim triggers Brazil uproar

Posted on Tue, Nov. 01, 2005

BRAZIL
Castro cash claim triggers Brazil uproar

A new accusation against President Lula da Silva is causing an uproar in
Brazil: A magazine reported the president received a campaign gift from
Castro.
BY JACK CHANG
Knight Ridder News Service

RIO DE JANEIRO - A report that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
received $3 million in secret campaign donations -- packed in rum and
whiskey boxes -- from Fidel Castro is causing an uproar in Brazil.

The Cuban Embassy in Brazil and the Lula da Silva government both
strongly denied the report.

Such donations would be in violation of Brazilian campaign laws that
mandate the disclosure of campaign funds and prohibit politicians from
receiving contributions from foreign sources.

If proven, they would show Castro trying to help usher the leftist Lula
da Silva into the presidency decades after Havana's more direct efforts
at subversion -- training and arming guerrillas from much of Latin
America -- failed to spark any revolutions similar to Cuba's.

They would also further damage the image of Lula da Silva, now barely
recovering from a massive corruption scandal that has shaken his
government and his Workers Party, and severely eroded his popularity.

The weekend report in the news magazine Veja, one of the country's most
influential, dominated political debate Monday with Lula da Silva
calling the charges ''fantasy'' and some in his party threatening legal
action against the magazine for publishing false information.

''We need to deal with this not just politically but in the justice
system,'' Sen. Serys Slhessarenko said on the floor of Congress. ``The
press has rules of behavior, and it's important they be held accountable.''

Opposition legislators have promised to investigate the accusations,
which the magazine based on interviews with two former aides to Finance
Minister Antonio Palocci -- Rogerio Buratti, who himself is fighting
bribery charges, and financial consultant Vladimir Poleto.

The pair said they learned of the alleged Cuban donations from another
former Palocci aide, Ralf Barquete, who died of cancer in June 2004.

In August, Buratti made waves after testifying before a congressional
panel that Palocci had received bribes from a garbage company while
serving as a provincial mayor.

Buratti's source then was also Barquete, but he was never able to prove
the accusations. According to the Veja story, the money arrived in the
country's capital, Brasilia, in 2002 by unidentified means and was
safeguarded by Cuban diplomat Sergio Cervantes, who has since returned
to Cuba.

A Workers' Party supporter, Barquete allegedly received the money after
it was flown to a town near the city of Sao Paulo.

The Cuban embassy said in a statement late Saturday that ''the
government of Cuba categorically rejects these slanders and affirms that
it has never interfered in the internal affairs of its sister nation.''
The embassy blamed ''the aggressive plans of imperialism against Cuba
and Lula'' for the false charges.

In March, Veja reported that the Workers' Party had received money from
a Colombian leftist guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, or FARC, but the accusations remain unproven.

The furor over the alleged donation shows Castro remains a lightning rod
for controversy in Brazil, said David Fleischer, a political science
professor at the University of Brasilia.

With Cuba deeply impoverished, Castro's influence in South America is
largely ideological, although many of the region's left-leaning
governments are on friendly terms with the Communist nation, he said.

No proof has emerged so far that Cuban money has been supporting
friendly governments or guerrilla groups anywhere in South America in
recent days, said several political observers.

But many believe the growing influence of Venezuelan President Hugo
Chávez, a close Castro ally who is reaping a windfall in oil profits, is
resuscitating Castro's role in the region.

''Chávez's finances have allowed Cuba to be a player again in the
region, especially in places like Bolivia,'' said Manuel Rocha, a former
U.S. ambassador to Bolivia who is now a Miami-based consultant. Evo
Morales, the leftist front-runner in Bolivia's presidential race, is an
unabashed admirer of both Chávez and Castro.

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