SAN PAULO, Brazil — At 5:30 p.m. on
Nov. 12, the
government of the Federative
Republic of Brazil was headed
by Aldo Rebelo, a parliamentary
deputy and a member of the
central committee of the Communist
Party of Brazil (PCdoB).
It was the first time a communist
has held the presidency in
the nation’s history, albeit only
for one day.
At that hour the recently re-elected
President Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva, who was embarking on
a trip to Venezuela,
temporarily handed over his
presidential powers Rebelo at a
ceremony at Congonhas’ Airport in
São Paulo, the
nation's largest city.
Normally Brazil’s vice president,
José de Alencar, would
have assumed the role of acting
president in Lula’s
absence. But Alencar was in the U.S.
for medical tests.
Since Rebelo is speaker of the House
of Representatives, he
was next in line to assume the top
post.
At a press conference at the
airport, Rebelo said the
handover must be viewed as “a normal
act of government.”
But this was not exactly a common
occurrence in Brazilian
history. Rebelo acknowledged as
much, saying, “The fight
of many generations of progressive
and democratic Brazilians
to conquer democracy and liberty
allowed us to live this
rare moment. And today it is
possible for a communist, a
member of a Communist Party, even
for a few hours, run the
nation in normality, tolerance and
respect.”
Rebelo said it is important to
remember that Karl Marx and
Frederick Engels, the founders of
scientific socialism,
“planted the seeds of the ideals of
democracy, liberty and
independence of nations.”
“Others have made contributions, too
— and they were not
necessarily Marxists — men of
struggle like Simon
Bolívar in the Latin America and
Abraham Lincoln in United
States,” Rebelo said. He also
invoked the memory of those
“who have struggled for
independence, for the Republic as
Tiradentes — José Bonifácio, Frei
Caneca, Luís
Carlos Prestes, João Amazonas,
Getúlio Vargas, Floriano
Peixoto and Juscelino Kubitschek. A
lot of people have
struggled in order to create a
country where people respect
each other.”
Rebelo said the Communist Party of
Brazil has tried in every
possible way to make its
contribution to the construction of
a sovereign, democratic Brazil in
the almost 85 years of the
party’s history.
The party was founded in 1922 and
for most of its existence,
because of the fierce repression by
the country’s
reactionary forces, has had to
operate underground. That is
not the case today.
Rebelo added that Brazil’s
communists have dedicated their
best energies to promoting the
defense of the country’s
sovereignty and the independence, as
well as to increasing
grassroots democratization, so as to
free the country of
poverty, guarantee political
freedom, reaffirm Brazil’s
national identity and promote a form
of economic development
that values and honors the role of
labor.
Rebelo is expected to assume the
presidency again on Nov.
30, when President Lula visits
Nigeria.
