February 19, 2019

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The International Trade Union Confederation – ITUC, which represents 207 million workers and 331 national trade union centers from 163 countries, launches its energetic protest against the persecution of former trade union leader Luis Ignacio `Lula’ and demands his immediate release. It also supports the nomination of `Lula’ to the Nobel Peace Prize.

Víctor Baez has Paraguayan origin and the last ten years has been based in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He is the president of the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (CSA) and was also elected deputy general secretary of the ITUC in December 2018. The ITUC helds its most recent congress in the Danish capital, Copenhagen. We have sopken with Víctor about the international campaign FREE LULA!

How is the campaign going and which expressions it takes in the global trade union movement like the ITUC?
“The ITUC and the CSA have supported all campaigns for the freedom of ‘Lula’ and the right to a fair trial. The second conviction against `Lula’ further ratifies the persecution and reveals that ‘Lula’ is a political prisoner. At this moment there are segments that are advocating for `Lula’ to get the Nobel Peace Prize for having been part of a project that took millions of Brazilians out of poverty. Besides, he established more democratic rules of coexistence at the international level, deserving the Nobel Prize. However, at the same time, we are going to continue fighting as a trade union movement for his freedom. Because `Lula’ for us is a political prisoner and we demand his freedom.”

The extreme right of fascism
“Evidently we are concerned about the right turn, and not a ‘civilized’ right, on the contraire, the extreme right of fascism. Our point of view in the region, is that the trade union movement must be part of a broader movement of frontal combat against fascism. Fascism is not only present in Europe, in large parts of Latin America it is also present. That is why we have to fight, and we cannot fight in a fractionated way against racism, machismo, because fascism assemblies all of them together; fascism is violent, fascism is undemocratic. Fascism is not necessarily anti-neoliberal because at this moment neoliberalism is using fascism to consolidate itself. Because obviously, from all points of view, it will need authoritarianism to maintain himself. We as anti-neoliberal and antifascist must form a broader front that includes other sectors to fight together against fascism.”

So, the ITUC is also supporting the candidacy of `Lula’ for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize?
“Yes, yes, the ITUC and the CSA”!

Which concrete expressions does the political Brazilian right offensive take when it comes to pensions, privatizations of PetroBras, closings of ministries, social policies, culture, etc.?
“The coup d’etat against Dilma was the first measure. But the justification of why they took the coup can be seen later with all the measures they have taken. They have completely outsourced jobs, which means that there will have more workers and worker exclusions. There will have less salary and fewer rights. Now they are directed against Social Security benefits. Those are the reasons why they took the coup. I always say that `Lula’ is not imprisoned for those false accusations [of which he was convicted], the reasons are political in nature.

Trump’s war drums
At the national level, ‘Lula’ has been charged for having better distributed the riches produced in Brazil. At an international level they are charging him for taking part [in the creation] of the BRICS organization (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), for having participated in the creation of the BRICS Bank, for having been part of the creation of Unasur or of Celac in the “backyard of the USA”. I said that personally to `Lula’ on August 12, 2016. So, those false accusations are not just a Brazilian issue, with which is not based on anything [in the legal sense] but, in fact, is a highly political issue and has its roots not only in Brazil but abroad.

As a president of the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas, how do you see Donald Trump’s policy; the situation and the conditions for American workers, the idea of the wall, the mass deportations of thousands of Central American and Mexican workers immigrants; the drums of war that are touching at this moment, freezing even assets of the Venezuelan PDVSA, etc.?
“It’s totally unacceptable”!

“In Europe, the creation of walls is similar of it… The Berlin wall that had 160 kilometers fell and, the walls that surround Europe currently have a thousand (1000) kilometers long. It is bizarre to believe that a country or continent will be sustainable by placing walls. There is nothing that can be sustainable if the whole is not sustainable. If the world is unsustainable, how will the United States be sustainable or will Europe be sustainable? You cannot separate one part of the whole. ”

The illegal financial flow
“Instead of building a wall against people flow, what Trump and Europe should create is a wall to block the illegal financial flow. The illicit financial trick of the emerging countries, which is around one billion dollars per year, goes from poor countries to the banks of rich countries or to tax shelters. If the problem of migration is not solved by giving to the people what they are looking for outside, there is no wall outside that will solve that problem. These policies are warmongering and violent and, instead to solve the reasons of the problems, they reflect an authoritarian form of government procedures that are totally authoritarian, racist, anti-democratic and in relation to the countries that have traditionally been exploited by the most developed countries.”

In February it was the 30th anniversary of the overthrow of the dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner (August 15, 1954-February 3, 1989). You have spoken about the winds of fascism blowing and, as a Paraguayan and antifascist fighter during that dictatorship, how would we interpret those 30 years and how do you see the situation in Paraguay at this time?
“We have lost 30 years of time. Thirty beautiful years because who presides the country comes from the “kidney of Stroessnerism”. That has a political meaning. We do not have a process where there was a great chance of building a better country. It is possible that the country has grown economically. But the education did not improve, the inclusion did not improve, on the contrary, the exclusion has increased. The situation of the workers did not improve, in its place 80% of the workers are in the informal sector, that means, they are not protected. Every five years people vote, it is true. But what benefits does it bring to people? I am not saying that the vote is not important, the vote is very important, but democracy means not only to vote freely, but to improve the life of citizenship and the future of the people. And especially at this moment in which emerges the phenomenon of automation, artificial intelligence, robotization, we continue to be soy and meat exporters.”

“Paraguay is a field where multinationals do what they want. Great capitals do what they want and, the small and medium-sized companies, which create more jobs in the world, are at the mercy of the whims of big capital.”

 

TeleSur | Photo: Archive | Translated by Leela Alaniz.