SAO PAULO, June 17 (UPI) -- Brazil's presidential candidate for the Socialist Party on Monday accused outside forces of waging a campaign of "electoral terrorism" responsible for the country's sagging markets and faltering currency leading up to October elections.
In asserting his accusations, former Rio de Janeiro Gov. Anthony Garotinho coined a new phrase for the alleged perpetrators of terror calling them "Talibancos," merging the name of the former Afghan rulers with the Portuguese word for banks.
Garotinho said the "Talibancos" were purposefully harming the Brazilian economy to bolster the prospects of presidential candidate Jose Serra, considered by both foreign and domestic investors to be the most market-friendly candidate in the four-man race.
"I discovered that there is a new terrorist group acting in favor of Serra's candidacy," Garotinho said, as reported by the online edition of business journal Valor Economica.
"In the same way that the Taliban attempts to make terror attacks against democracy, the Talibancos are trying to strengthen Serra's candidacy.
"With Serra, Brazil will become another Argentina -- he is the one supported by a terrorist group called Talibancos," he added, referring to neighboring Argentina's economic and political woes in the wake of its financial collapse in December.
Garotinho did not identify the supposed perpetrators of Brazil's recent economic instability, nor did he elaborate on the connection between the shadowy group and Serra, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's handpicked successor.
Recent opinion polls place the Socialist Party candidate in third, with Serra in second and Workers Party candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the lead with around 40 percent of intended votes.
Analysts maintain that the 20-point lead "Lula" -- as he is commonly known -- has mounted over Serra has managed to frighten foreign and domestic investors who speculate that a Workers' Party president would mean certain economic disaster for the world's eighth largest economy.
Lula has said publicly that if elected that he would restructure Brazil's international debts. Investors, however, are concerned that he would outright default on loans and send the country's economy tumbling.
