'Lula Is Going Through a Delicate Moment, I Will Not Criticize Him,' Says Ex-President Cardoso

09/26/2016 - 11h50

In an interview to Folha, former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso avoided passing judgment on the future of his successor, the also former president of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – Lula became a defendant in the Brazilian Federal Police's Lava Jato operation for the second time last week.

Cardoso said that the issue belongs to the Brazilian courts and does not want to criticize Lula.

Folha - Did you watch Dilma Rousseff's court hearing?

Fernando Henrique Cardoso - I watched her speech. I think she defended herself bravely, as well as she could. She was even clearer in her speech than she usually is.

The problem is that they don't want to face reality. Although there was a lot of clever maneuvering to avoid the central issue, the Brazilian Constitution did in fact suffer attacks. Expenses were paid without prior authorization by the Congress.

For some time you were not completely sure that it was enough...

No. The same thing happened to former president [Fernando] Collor. An impeachment is always traumatic, ousting someone who actually received the votes to take office. And, as long as the people are not convinced that that person has run out of chances

I did the same thing in Collor's case, it took me a long time to accept it. Personally, I always thought that Rousseff was not involved in any crime. A different thing is whether she has responsibility for the crimes, political responsibility.

What about the accusation against former president Lula? Did you watch it?

I saw parts of it. As the Public Attorney's Office tried to demonstrate that Lula was the commander of the graft scheme, it made another issue unclear, which is the most important: was there a crime as Lula allegedly received personal benefits?

If he was the commander of the scheme, well, that's not the end of the story, but the starting point. That doesn't reduce the need to answer yet another question: were the resources embezzled?

You refused to speak about that subject before...

I said I would rather not address the subject. Lula is going through a delicate moment and I don't think that it is up to me – as I have been the president and known him for a long time – to make matters worse. The issue now belongs to the Brazilian courts and that is where the decision will be made. I don't want to criticize Lula.

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO

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	Marcus Leoni/Folhapress
	Former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso