Organization: The American University - University Computing Center
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 10:53:38 EDT
From: <FONSECA@auvm.american.edu>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.brazil
Subject: ITAMAR SEGUNDO O POST

   Aqui vai, como prometido, a transcricao do perfil do Itamar, segundo o jor-
nal Wash. Post de ontem. Desculpem os que nao leem em ingles. Traduzir seria o
mais certo, mas nao tenho tempo. O Post de hoje traz (nao e' mais primeira pa-
gina) BRAZILIANS REINVIGORATED BY ORDERLY IMPEACHMENT - RESPONSIVENESS OF CON-
GRESS SEEN AS BOON TO DEMOCRACY. Apenas um trechinho: "Brazil not only put a
president accused of corruption in the dock and proved that its four-year-old
constitution works. In removing Collor by a crushing 441 to 38 margin, the
Congress showed clearly for the first time that it responds to popular will abo
ve the interests of political elite.While Latin America's largest nation has
lagged behind the rest of the region in stabilizing its economy, it set an exam
ple of political crisis control for other nations where democracy is in trou-
ble".
   Vamos ao Itamar. Do Post de ontem. Ha uma foto do homem com um riso meio
doido. Parece o Chacrinha perguntando "Voces querem bacalhauuu?" Nao assino em-
baixo porque nao conheco esse vice. A opiniao e' do jornal (trancricao sem auto
rizacao, e' claro):

BRAZIL'S NEW ACTING PRESIDENT SEEN HONEST, FAVORING STATE ROLE

   Vice president Itamar Franco will take over shortly as acting presidento of
Brazil, bringing a reputation for probity to a government wounded by corruption
and adding a sympathy for nationalist and labor causes.
   If Franco were elected to the office, he might move Brazil to the left, bra-
king impeached President Fernando Collor's drive to reduce the size of the sta-
te and to open the country to foreign trade. But as interim executive, Franco,
61, faces a consensus for the policies of Collor among the diverse political
parties that voted for his impeachment. Franco will be called upon to act as a
conciliator among these forces.
   Four decades in the give and take of politics prepared Franco for the role,
but his quixotic, temperamental character may make  playing it difficult. Most
observers predict that the one-time civil engineer from the mining state of Mi-
nas Gerais (trad. "o estado mineiro de Minas", qua, qua, qua...) will rule
throughout the remaining 27 months of Collor's term.
   Collor chose Franco for his ticket early in the 1989 race when Collor was an
unknown, primarily to gain voters in Franco's key home state. But once in offi-
ce,  Collor ignored Franco and gave him no job to do. Thus distanced, Franco
today is untainted by Collor's scandal.
About my temperament, everyone can be certain of one thing", Franco said in
a recent interview, "Tolerant of corruption? Never!" Even critics agree.
   Franco draws his political outlook from his roots in MG, which became an in-
dustrial power in the 1960's and 70's when Brazil's economy was state-dominated
. He opposed Collor's sale in February of Usiminas, Brazil's biggest state-owne
d steel mill, noting that it was profitable. Sell money-losing companies first,
he said.
   During a 16-year tenure in the Senate, Franco won votes through his stance o
n labor issues. A passionate adversary of the influence of the International Mo
netary Fund on economic policy, he was reluctant to see Brazil pay its huge fo-
reign debt. This record dismays international bankers, who earlier this month
reached an accord on a rescheduling of US$ 50 billion in commercial debt that
still must be approved by the Senate.
   However, colleagues say Franco has moderated. "He's a nationalist, but he's
not a xenophobe," said Sen. Mauricio Correa, a close friend of the vice presi-
dent.
   "I'm not the only one who is more mature. The world changed. We all evolved"
, Franco said Sunday. He has declined to speak in detail about his current
thinking, however.
   Franco's nationalism never translated into hostility toward Americans. When
vice president Quayle visited last year, Franco was attentive and cordial. "He
was the first one to show up at many of Quayle's activitie", a US diplomat said
Franco has passed through three parties and is currently independent. He has
a history of breaking with allies after vehemently defending narrow positions.
His temper can flare when he feels slighted.
   But friends say his rigid political postures contrast with an affable and
unpretentious private man.
   "Itamar's is a dignifiedlife lived without excesses", said lawyer Henrique
Hargreaves, an old friend of Franco's. At the beginning of his term, Franco mo-
ved out of the marble-line residence here, turning it into a environmental stu-
dy center.
   "He thought it was too pompous", Hargreaves said.
   One weekend, during an especially tense moment of the impeachment crisis,
Hargreaves and Franco snuck out the back door of his house to escape the press
and went flying in ultralight airplanes.
   Franco, who is divorced, does not discuss personal matters. But his affectio
nate side showed in a tape leaked to the press by an anonymous tapper of Franco
's phone earlier this month in a hotel in Rio de Janeiro. A 25-year-old woman
reporter grilled him in one conversation about political contacts he was making
   "If you weren't married, my love," Franco came back, "I would ask you to go
to the movies with me". Adding to his lady's-man image, a segment of a sexy
short story Franco wrote was published in this month's Playboy magazine in Bra-
zil.
Analysts say Franco's simpler style will be a welcome relief after the high-
handed Collor. Said Richard Foster, editor of a newsletter about Brazilian po-
litics: "It will be a modest agenda modestly implemented by a modest man".

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Transcr.
Danilo
Newsgroups: soc.culture.brazil