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CAN LULA MAKE PEACE WITH THE EARTH?




A little over one year ago (in March 2009) the Times of London reported the now-famous Lula quote: "I am infected by the peace virus."

The Times continued, "President Lula Da Silva of Brazil, who joked recently that he was “infected by the peace virus”, is considering an attempt at becoming the next UN Secretary-General." Both before that moment and surely ever since President Lula has been meeting with everyone.

Well, not quite. In the recent O Globo interview when James Cameron was asked if he had spoken with Brazilian government officials about the Belo Monte dam controversy, he reported that, "I had the impression that the Brazilian government does not want information along Belo Monte lines. I sent a letter to Lula asking a meeting with him or with someone of his energy team. But I had no answer. Still waiting. I would love to talk with the Brazilian government, to hear the other side...."

In the same interview, Cameron went on to say, "I want to talk with President Lula and I decided to have dinner in Washington with Marina Silva, who is a candidate for the Green Party in Brazil. And I will also meet with President Obama. The Kayapo Indians and other indigenous leaders handed me a letter pretty much talking about their problems [that] I intend to deliver a letter to President Obama. I think he can broaden the debate, the issue can lead to discussions about global warming at the UN."

In yet another Cameron interview, this time with Wolf Blitzer at CNN we learn:

BLITZER: All right, let's talk a little bit about your meeting with the president of the United States. What happened? How did that come about?

CAMERON: It was very brief, and I think he just wanted to congratulate me on the success of the film and I drew his attention to some of the things that I was involved in now.

BLITZER: On the environment?

CAMERON: Energy, conservation, the Amazon stuff. And he was very interested. He didn't expect that, I think to be the topic of conversation. But we engaged on that.

Now, let's hope that President Lula can get beyond his well-known aversion to gringo "interference" on the Amazon and also engage.