Brazil's Lula to stand trial for obstruction of justice: court

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the former chief executive of investment bank Grupo BTG Pactual SA will stand trial for obstruction of justice, documents from a federal court in Brasilia showed on Friday.

Lula was previously under investigation in various jurisdictions in a sprawling corruption probe focused on state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) but is now officially a defendant.

The case dates to last November, when former Senator Delcidio do Amaral and Andre Esteves, the founder and former CEO of BTG Pactual, were arrested for allegedly trying to stop a jailed former Petrobras executive from collaborating with Brazil's largest-ever corruption investigation.

The executive's son recorded Amaral, who is collaborating now with prosecutors himself for a lightened sentence, saying judges could be influenced into freeing his father and that Esteves was willing to pay for his silence.

The case had previously been secret, and less is known about Lula's alleged involvement in that incident.

Lula's lawyers said in a statement that they had not been notified of the court's decision but intended to prove his innocence.

AFP

Brazil’s Lula faces trial for obstruction of justice

https://www.yahoo.com/news/brazils-lula-face-trial-obstruction-justice-official-193657393.html

Brasília (AFP) - Ex-Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was key in getting the Olympics to Rio, will be put on trial for allegedly trying to obstruct a corruption probe at Petrobras oil company, officials said Friday.

“The charge is obstruction of justice” linked to the Petrobras embezzlement probe, named Operation Car Wash, a spokesman for the justice ministry told AFP.

Lula, 70, was formally charged along with six others, including former senator Delcidio do Amaral, a once-important ally in Lula’s leftist Workers’ Party who is accused of Petrobras-related corruption and has become a state’s witness.

Lula, as he is universally known in Brazil, was president from 2003-2010 and left office with massive popularity thanks to social programs that lifted tens of millions of Brazilians from poverty.

He also was key in the 2009 winning bid by Rio de Janeiro to host South America’s first Olympics, which start next Friday.

GEORGE, JEB AND LULA

Derry Brownfield
March 2, 2008
NewsWithViews.com

Last March I discussed with my listeners that President Bush was in Brazil and the motive of his visit was to form some sort of a partnership with that country concerning the “biofuels” industry. Apparently we now have a US/Brazilian Biofuels Pact referred to as the Bush LULA Pact. The President of Brazil is Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (for the rest of this article I will refer to him as Lula). I’ve not been able to get a copy of the PACT that was signed, if one does exist, however, on March 9, 2007 Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Brazil Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, signed a memorandum pledging closer cooperation on researching production of energy from alternative sources. The accord also promotes alternative fuels in the region and develops industry-wide standards and codes that could lay the groundwork for a global biofuels market.

Bush and Lula said they were committed to reaching a successful result in a new round of World Trade Organization negotiations. Thomas Shannon, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs said, “The world knowing that the United States and Brazil are prepared to work together carries a lot of weight in the Americas.” (Bush has made eight trips to Latin America since he became president.)

Brother Jeb Bush became involved in Brazil prior to leaving his Florida governor’s office. While discussing the ethanol industry about a joint partnership with Brazil, he co-founded the Inter-American Ethanol Commission to promote regional production. Note that Jeb co-founded the Commission. The other co-chairs include Roberto Rodrigues, President of the Superior Council of Agribusiness of Brazil and Luis Alberto Moreno, President of the Inter-American Development Bank.

Agribusiness refers to the Multinational Agricultural corporations. Cevasa Ethanol Distillery in Sao Paulo, Brazil is the largest producer of sugarcane in Brazil. Cargill recently purchased 63 percent of its shares, giving Cargill majority control of the corporation. While Bush was in Brazil thousands of members of an international social movement made up of rural workers held massive, non-violent occupations of multinational agribusiness corporations throughout Brazil. Nine hundred women occupied the Cevasa (Cargill) ethanol distillery. Organizers of these protests claimed the actions were to protest the model of economic growth via industrialized agriculture for export. That while Brazil’s agro-export boom may boost Brazil’s Gross Domestic Product, at the same time it is creating poverty for the rural poor due to land concentration, environmental destruction, and unemployment and labor exploitation.

For every 100 hectares (247 acres) planted to sugarcane for ethanol production, only one job is generated, while on a family farm of this size 35 jobs are generated. In Brazil, agribusiness is controlled by a handful of multinational corporations that are usurping more and more Brazilian territory and expelling more rural poor to the already swollen urban centers. The organizers stated that the large scale, industrialized production for export to the Global North (meaning the US) is entirely controlled by multinational agribusiness corporations. Bishop Tomas Balduino said, “The pact between Brazil and the United States for the promotion of ethanol is sinister. It’s just going to promote death, marginalization, poverty and the destruction of the environment because it defends the interests of large multinationals.”

According to Joao Pedro Stedile, “The Lula government is stepping up its land occupations, including the seizure of lands that could be used for ethanol production. The Lula government is supporting the mode of agricultural production known as agribusiness that allies the landowners with the transnational corporations.”

The social movement supporters want Brazilian ethanol production in the hands of small farmers as part of a diversified agricultural system in which local food production for Brazilians is prioritized, assuring land, livelihoods and jobs for the rural poor. Brazil should focus on producing ethanol for its large internal market, not to sustain US consumption. The accord indicates that Lula is cooperating with Bush and agribusiness in order to ensure the industry remains controlled by large capital interests, while the Brazilian rural poor sink deeper into poverty. Bishop Balduino stated, “Today there is no more agrarian reform, there is agribusiness. Make no mistake; this accord will only benefit the multinationals and the elite.”

We live in a global world that lives by the Golden Rule. Agribusiness has the gold, so Agribusiness makes the rules, not only in the United States and Brazil but around the world. The Multinational Corporations have a choke hold on all natural resources. The more hi-tech farming has become, the greater the need for capital and the Multinationals have the capital. These institutions with unlimited capital have convinced their governments that high-priced machinery along with complex equipment is better for a nation than having more people working. These entrenched forces, for their own power and profit, intend to keep agriculture under their control.

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