Who Paid for Lula's Second Presidential Election?

May 18 (EIRNS)--Santander Bank, the Queen of England's own fascist Spanish bank, was the second largest contributor, to President Lula da Silva and his Workers Party (PT) electoral campaigns in 2006, contributing some US $1.7 million, Folha de Sao Paulo reported on May 17. After reviewing the PT's recent report to election authorities, the paper reported its largest contributors were public works contractors, the banks, and, no surprise, given Lula's current "obsession" with slavery-based biofuels: ethanol producers.

Santander was rewarded with a cabinet seat (Development, Industry and Trade Minister) and a top Central Bank post, in the second Lula administration. Santander demanded it also be given control of Brazil's giant development bank, BNDES --a move denounced on LaRouchePAC's site on April 17 as an attempted economic coup by the British Monarchy --but that bid failed.