Brazil: Lula's new position towards Iran

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Business Week:

When Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva defends Iran’s right to a nuclear program and makes plans to visit Tehran in May, he is following the path of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The similarities only go so far.
Chavez, who has visited Iran eight times, is supporting the Islamic Republic and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad because he views the Iranian leader as a fellow “gladiator of the anti- imperialist battle” against the U.S.
Lula’s motivation is less ideological than strategic, say analysts in Brazil and the U.S. His policy is aimed at converting Brazil’s economic muscle into global clout by pushing “south-south” trade and political ties with developing countries, they say. Iran’s 74 million consumers make it an attractive market, and Lula’s resistance to Iran sanctions helps safeguard Brazil’s civilian nuclear program from outside interference.

This is not a surprise coming from the same man who has actually supported Castro's "justice system" after the murder of opposition activist Orlando Zapata Tamayo.


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Lula, who was briefly jailed for defying Brazil’s 1964-1983 dictatorship, has been reluctant to criticize Iran’s clerical and political leaders.

He compared the crushing of street protests in Tehran by police following Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election last year to a fight between fans of rival Rio de Janeiro soccer clubs Flamengo and Vasco da Gama.

Lula will be only the sixth head of state or government to visit Iran since the vote, according to the Iranian president’s Web site. He joins a group that includes Chavez, Bolivia’s Evo Morales, Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and Mauritania’s Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who came to power in a 2008 military takeover.

Cross-posted from T&P.

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