This year’s Presidential candidates are increasingly resorting to fear and competing claims of victimization to win over the electorate.
Today Jose Serra’s running mate (and de facto attack dog) Indio da Costa furthered allegations tying Dilma Rousseff’s Workers Party (the PT) to organized crime and drug trafficking. Indio da Costa not only reiterated previous claims that the PT has ongoing linkages with Colombia’s FARC rebel guerillas, but furthered his allegations to include an insinuation that the PT is also involved with Rio’s infamous Comando Vermelho (Red Command) crime syndicate.
Although Indio da Costa’s accusations linking the PT to Colombia’s FARC are not entirely baseless (the PT along with the FARC formed part of a leftist São Paolo-based caucus during the 1990s), the latest claims seem completely unfounded. A la Glenn Beck, Indio da Costa tied together seemingly innocuous facts into a widespread conspiracy with the following argument (paraphrased):
The PT is the FARC.
The FARC is drug trafficking.
Drug trafficking is Rio de Janeiro
And Rio de Janeiro is the Red Command.
Ergo…
The PT is the most ruthless criminal organization in Rio’s history (i.e. the Red Command).
The PT has responded to Indio Da Costa’s initial accusations (those tying the party to the FARC) by suing Mr Serra and Indio da Costa’s party and asking for $40 thousand Reais in damages (about $23 thousand USD). Dilma Rousseff and the PT will most likely add Indio da Costa’s latest allegations to their own conspiracy theory arguing that they are the targets of concerted effort to impede the success of their campaign. The PT’s claims of being the victims of powerful opponents follow a series of investigations and fines against the PT for breach of electoral law.
With the presidential elections only three months away it appears that debates on policy are far from the minds of this year’s contestants and that the mud-slinging has only just begun.
