A Chat With Fernando Gabeira

Fernando Gabeira is one of Brazil’s best-known politicians, an author, and an activist revered as a former member of the far-left urban guerrilla group Movimento Revolucionário 8 de Outubro—aka the MR-8. In the mid-1960s, the MR-8 took an armed stance against Brazil’s military dictatorship, and Gabeira helped kidnap a foreign dignitary on behalf of the struggle. He also has an affinity for strolling the beaches of Ipanema in a string bikini and was nearly elected mayor of Rio de Janeiro in late 2008 on behalf of the Green Party he helped found. Vice: Hello there. What do you think is the greatest challenge facing Brazil today? Fernando Gabeira: It is to survive the international economic crisis without creating a backlash that could affect both social and environmental conditions. Then there are ecological threats: the deforestation of the Amazon, the degradation of our clean-water resources, pollution in the big cities, the existence of 9 million children without basic sanitation, and the contamination of important industrial areas of the country. So there’s plenty to do. As a member of the MR-8, were you motivated more by standing against the military dictatorship or by communist ideals? My motive was to fight the dictatorship in Brazil and to address the absence of essential liberties in the country. I was an existentialist, influenced by the post–World War II French philosophy. I became a Marxist during the armed struggle. Eventually, you were exiled from Brazil. Did your beliefs change at all during this period? During my exile, I broke both with Marxism and with the French philosophy as well. How did you spend your period of banishment? What kind of work did you do? The largest part of it was spent in Sweden, where I worked for the Portuguese division of Radio Sweden and wrote a film about our exile in Chile and the dangers we faced during Augusto Pinochet’s coup. I also used to drive underground trains, cut grass in cemeteries, and wash dishes in hospitals. Exile is a very diverse experience. The MR-8 was well known for not meshing with the general far-left network. What was it that made you guys unpopular with other liberals? The MR-8 was one of the first movements to break away from the Brazilian Communist party. We were students and intellectuals. In the early years, armed organizations mistrusted us because of our intellectualism. When we started doing things that were similar to what they were doing, we got closer and did some work together. In hindsight, are you proud of the kidnapping of American Ambassador Charles Burke Elbrick? I am not proud of the kidnapping. As a matter of fact, I am against kidnappings in general and any kind of political violence. I have moved from the position of the kidnapper to the position of the victim. How so? I was involved with a group that campaigned for the liberation of Íngrid Betancourt and all the Colombians in the hands of the FARC.

Gabeira at his 1970 trial in Rio de Janeiro for the kidnapping of US ambassador Charles Burke Elbrick. Photo by AP

Do you identify today with any of the MR-8’s original ideology? My ideas have changed a great deal—I’ve been involved in politics since I was 17 years old. I started out as student leader in my hometown, and a half century changes everyone’s views. Even the blockheads’. You currently identify with the Green Party, which maintains a fairly liberal sensibility. I do not consider myself a typical left-winger. I talk to the left and the right, and I am speaking with sincerity when I say I am not satisfied with either. Something very serious has happened with the political minds today: They have become old. Too old. Do you find it odd that so much of the support for your mayoral run in Rio de Janeiro came from wealthy middle-class Brazilians? The most enthusiastic and vocal support did come from the middle class. But I got more than 49 percent of the vote. If we had a middle class that extensive, the city would be richer than it is. My support was far from exclusively middle class. I take it you’re referring more to the poor classes than the rich ones. Poor people are expressing a certain disdain for the classical politicians—even the classical populists. They are looking for change. Well, your polling numbers definitely show that. What are you going to do now? I have no plans but to live in peace—reading, writing, and taking pictures. But a lot of my friends and young politicians want me to stay involved. There is a profound crisis affecting the country, and I am attracted by the crisis and the challenge of its administration. Does that mean there’s another governmental position opening up that you’re eyeballing? The situation presents a great possibility to run for governor of Rio. Maybe for the Senate. These things have all happened in spite of my plans. Just like many other things over the past 50 years of my political life.