MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Future Brazilian VP to become Industry Minister as well

Lula also promised to announce 16 new ministers next week

Brazil's President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Thursday released the names of 16 of his future ministers for when he takes office on Jan. 1. Lula also said that 16 other ministers are to be named next week.

Thursday's announcement was made after the final report of the transition team was delivered by Vice-President-elect Geraldo Alckimin, who will also take on the Ministry of Development, Industry, and Commerce.

Earlier this month, Lula had admitted he would be choosing Fernando Haddad for Finance; Rui Costa for the Civil House; Flávio Dino for Justice and Public Safety; José Múcio for Defense; and Mauro Vieira for Institutional Relations.

Among Thursday's announcements was that by singer Margareth Menezes to head the future Ministry of Culture, one of the 37 such offices under Lula: Advocacy General of the Union (AGU), Office of the Comptroller General (CGU); Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation; Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce, and Services; Ministry of Social Development, Assistance, Family and Fight Against Hunger; Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenry; Ministry of Education; Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services; Ministry of Racial Equality; Ministry of Women; Ministry of Ports and Airports; Ministry of Health; Ministry of Labor and Employment; General Secretary; and Secretariat of Institutional Relations.

Regarding the transition team's report, Lula said that “we received this government in a situation of penury, an irresponsible situation because the president preferred to tell lies in his playpen than to govern this country.”

Alckimin said that the transition report points to a “setback in many areas”. The survey gathers information from 32 work groups, which had the participation of about 5 thousand volunteers and 14 political parties. According to him, only 23 people were appointed to act directly in the transition. “Unfortunately, we had a setback in many areas. The federal government has gone backward. The state that President Lula receives is much more difficult and sadder than before. In education, we had a huge setback, a drop in learning, school dropouts increased, and essential resources for school meals were frozen at R$0.36. We had almost a collapse of the federal institutes and universities.”

The future vice president highlighted that the current government's arms policy caused an increase in violence against women. According to him, the distribution of weapons has led to a record number of deaths of women. “In the last six months we had 700 feminicide deaths caused by firearms,” he said.

The report also pointed to the 95% reduction in the rice stock at the National Supply Company (Conab). The stock of food by the institution is a way used by the federal government to regulate market prices. “This reduction ended up leading to an increase in the price of food, which aggravated food insecurity,” Alckmin pointed out while underlining that 93% of the federal highways were without maintenance. “This is not austerity, this is management inefficiency. It is a Herculean task that lies ahead,” he argued.

Regarding deforestation in the Amazon region, the survey points to an increase of 59% between 2019 and 2022. In recent weeks, a 1226% increase in forest burning has been recorded. “It's devastation in the forests, not by farmers, but by land grabbers. It's a big challenge,” he added.

(Source: Agencia Brasil)