Lula: ‘Blue-Eyed’ Bankers and Emerging Markets

JIM LEHRER:

Now the gathering of major economic powers at the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh, a year after the financial crisis. Our economics correspondent, Paul Solman, is there.

As world leaders began arriving today and protests took place outside, Paul spoke with Brazil's president about economic matters and the political standoff in Honduras, that latest development being the ousted Honduran president taking refuge in the Brazilian embassy. That's where Paul's conversation begins.

PAUL SOLMAN, NewsHour Economics Correspondent:

President Lula da Silva, thank you very much for joining us. How did the deposed Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya, wind up in the Brazilian embassy in Honduras? And did you have anything to do with it?

LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA, President of Brazil (through translator): Well, he had to stop in some embassy. I believe that our concern is not to know which embassy he's in or how he got to the embassy, because I received information already in New York City. That's when I found out.

The fact of the matter is that you have someone that overthrew the president in power now, someone through the coup d'etat. The democratically elected president was overthrown. And it's fair that the elected president wants to go back to his post.

And those that participated in the coup d'etat, if they want to be president, they should run for the next elections, and we cannot accept or allow any coup d'etat experience in Latin America.

PAUL SOLMAN:

Are you doing anything to get him out?

LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA:

Well, what we want is that Honduras should go back to a normal situation. The Brazilian government expects that there should be no violation against the Brazilian embassy, of our territory.

It's not the first time in the world's history that people that are being persecuted and want refuge in foreign embassies, they are refugees. The normal fact in Honduras is to be in the presidency people that were not elected for the presidency, that's the abnormal fact.

PAUL SOLMAN:

Does the prominence of this G-20 meeting mean that emerging economies, like Brazil's, are finely getting their due?

LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA:

Well, I believe that it is very difficult in the world of today for you to continue with G-8 only without taking in account the importance of Brazil, China, India, many in the world economy, because we are great consumers, large consumers, and we're also becoming great producers, and also because we were better prepared than the rich countries for this crisis.

This is the first global crisis that doesn't start in poor countries and it was caused by the rich countries. And the institutions, like IMF, World Bank, that new — supposedly everything, when the crisis happened in Brazil, in countries like Brazil, now they don't know nothing when the crisis happened in the U.S.

And so it's necessary for us to take advantage of this crisis and do things the right way, to have — the financial system has to be regulated. We have to end with the tax havens. And it's necessary that the central banks in the world should control a little bit the banks' financing, because they cannot bypass a certain range of leverage.

And so I believe that today, if you want me to be sincere, I believe that there's no other — more any reason for a G-8 group or any other "G." I believe that we should guarantee that the G-20 should be now an important forum to discuss the major economic issues of the world.