Until now he has also been perhaps the most critical ally of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the onetime leftist firebrand who needs all the establishment backing he can get to push through painful economic reforms. Sarney played a crucial role steering bills to reform the country’s profligate pension system and onerous tax code through the legislature, which is divided among 17 different parties. “After the president, Sarney is Brazil’s most powerful politician,” says Pedro Simon, a senior senator who commands a rival wing of Sarney’s own Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, or PMDB. In person Sarney is more modest. “I do nothing more than serve as a balancing point within the national Congress,” he told NEWSWEEK. He has made no secret of his own ambitions–to amend the rules that limit a Senate president to one term, clearing the way for his re-election.
The problem is that Lula has not supported his bid, and last week Sarney announced he would not seek another term. The question political observers have is whether that means he will also withdraw his support for the president, who, with just two and a half years left in office, faces tough legislative battles to reform the judiciary, labor laws and party politics. “The government can’t afford a clash,” says Amaury de Souza, a political analyst for the Sao Paulo consulting firm MCM. “If Lula plays his cards wrong, he could dismantle his entire base of support.”
The two men are an odd pair. Lula is the son of peasants, while Sarney was raised in the comfort of the ruling political aristocracy of northeast Brazil. Sarney came of age in national politics during Brazil’s infamous 1964-80 military dictatorship, faithfully serving the same generals who threw Lula, then a young union activist, into jail. The rivalry peaked during Sarney’s hapless presidency, from 1985 to 1990–five grueling years that were stained by political intrigue and a price freeze that led to a disastrous bout of hyperinflation and default on the country’s $120 billion foreign debt. Politicians feasted on Sarney’s every misstep–none more ravenously than Lula.
Brazilians have been surprised at the degree of cooperation between the two men. In February, when Waldomiro Diniz, a senior aide to Lula’s powerful chief of staff, Jose Dirceu, was caught promising official favors to the boss of a clandestine lottery in return for campaign kickbacks, Sarney wasted no time. With Dirceu on the ropes, Sarney invoked an ancient legislative loophole and killed an incipient congressional probe, arguing that he could not name panel members against their parties’ wishes. It was a sleight of hand–only Lula’s allies refused to join the probe–and it infuriated scores of lawmakers. “He trampled the rights of the minority,” says Simon. “It was absurd.” Perhaps, but the wily jockeying also rescued the already embattled government from even more serious damage.
Lula has clearly found strength in the senator’s support. Less clear is Sarney’s motivation for helping the president. “Sarney has always been close to power,” says Simon. “He’s an ace at riding the crest of a wave.” Having helped Lula march largely unscathed through 18 months in office, Sarney was no doubt counting on some support for his re-election idea. But when Renan Calheiros, an upstart senator within the PMDB, declared himself a rival for Sarney’s job, Lula–a self-styled high-wire artist–led both contenders to believe they had his blessing. Although Sarney gave up his bid–after weeks of sparring with Calheiros in public–he will remain in the Senate, and remain hugely influential. With the bulk of reform still to be tackled, and traditional backers within the PT in open rebellion, Lula can only hope that his unlikely friend in the Senate does not become tomorrow’s enemy.
