RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Former President Fernando Collor de Mello apologized on Monday, May 18th, for seizing balances from savings accounts and current accounts in March 1990. On Twitter, the now-senator said he believed that radical measures could contain inflation.
The apology comes over 30 years after the announcement of the Collor 1 Plan on March 16th, 1990. “I believed those radical measures were the right way forward. Unfortunately, I was wrong. I would like to apologize to all those people who have been hurt by the blocking of their assets,” he wrote.
Collor said his team’s central goal was to contain the 80 percent per month hyperinflation and that he saw no viable alternative at the time. The country’s economic situation, he said, hurt the most impoverished and “people were dying of hunger.
“It was a very difficult decision. But I decided to take the risk. I knew that I risked losing my popularity and even the presidency back then”, says the publication. “We really wanted to get it right. Our goal has always been the good of Brazil and the Brazilians.”
In recent weeks, the former president has strengthened his presence on social media and made room for internet users to submit questions. “I’ll answer any and all questions, but the amount is too big so I’m going slowly.”
Source: Estadão Conteúdo