Brazilian bingo workers march against president
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Bingo workers protested the closure of bingo halls in Brasilia Wednesday.
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BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) -- Up to 30,000 bingo hall employees thrown out of work in the fallout from a government scandal demonstrated Wednesday in the Brazilian capital and demanded President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva fire corrupt officials, not workers.
Waving unemployment benefit books in the faces of police at Congress, protesters demanded the president lift his ban on bingo operations meant to hit gambling executives linked to the worst crisis of his 14-month-old government.
"We're workers, not criminals," shouted Adriana Souta, a bingo cashier from Sao Paulo wearing a T-shirt reading: "We voted for this coward."
Thousands of protesters waded into pools in front of police lines at Congress in one of the biggest protests since the populist Lula took power in January 2003.
The order three weeks ago to shut down the bingos was part of a government counteroffensive against opposition calls for a congressional probe into a scandal over influence peddling.
Police armed with submachine guns have ushered baffled retirees out of bingo halls, which were legal but were suspected fronts for organized crime and money laundering.
The former government official at the heart of the scandal, Waldomiro Diniz, was fired on Feb. 13 when a video surfaced of him demanding a kickback from a gambling boss in 2002.
The incident occurred when Diniz was head of the Rio de Janeiro state lottery and before the Lula administration took power. Diniz was later given a job on the presidential staff by Lula's powerful chief of staff, Jose Dirceu.
The Workers' Party insists no wrongdoing occurred during its time in office. Opposition politicians have demanded Dirceu quit or be fired and the business community fears the imbroglio could hamper the government's ambitious reform program.
Rising unemployment
Wednesday's march highlighted another headache for Lula -- unemployment.
The former shoeshine boy-turned-president has promised to create 10 million jobs, but unemployment in Latin America's biggest country has risen in his first year in office and the shutting of the bingo halls put tens of thousands more out of work. Protest organizers said the bingo halls employed about 120,000 people.
As protesters massed in front of Congress, senators debated whether to launch investigations into the scandal and the bingo industry -- moves the government is desperate to avoid.
But march organizers failed to persuade Workers' Party leaders to water down the bingo ban and save jobs. Lower house Workers' Party deputies instead created a commission to ensure no bingo operations escaped Lula's presidential decree.
Brazilian financial markets were calmer Wednesday after a fright Tuesday when an opposition senator promised but failed to offer damning evidence against the government.
Diniz was questioned by federal police Tuesday but his lawyer said he exercised his right to remain silent.
In another development, Sen. Antero Paes de Barros met Justice Minister Thomaz Bastos to discuss the slaying of his cousin. It was Barros who released the videotape showing Diniz asking for a kickback and opposition senators suggested the killing was linked to his push to investigate the ex-aide.
Workers' Party Senate leader Aloizio Mercadante ruled out a connection.
Copyright 2004
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
