Spensy Pimentel
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Caracas (Venezuela) - Representatives of the Brazilian government and the Workers' Party (PT) present at the American edition of the 6th World Social Forum in Venezuela judge that the image of the party and of Lula's Administration in the eyes of the social movements participating in the event was not affected by the political crisis in 2005.

"People who are well informed draw a clear distinction between the party and problems limited to certain leaders and individuals who have already been held responsible. We renewed the party leadership in a direct election. What other party has done this?" says the general secretary of the PT, Raul Pont.

Pont and other PT leaders met with journalists yesterday (25). In the general secretary's opinion, the failure to recognize the process undertaken by the PT is a reflection of the political dispute.

In response to a reporter's question about whether the Brazilian political crisis "is having repercussions" at the Forum, the head of the presidential office staff, minister Luiz Dulci, said that what one notes is a repercussion of the social transformations that are underway in Brazil, such as the strengthening of family farming and the decline in the rate of deforestation. "I sense an enormous interest in the processes of social transformation."

Translation: David Silberstein