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a little while ago, When speaking at the opening of the new session of the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization, fulfilling the ritual that has existed since its establishment in 1948 and that ensures that role for Brazil, President Lula da Silva has been emphatic in collecting from all countries of the world an unlimited effort to control the devastation of the environment.
Such a commitment is exactly the same one that he offered to fulfill when he assumed the first of his three presidencies, in 2003. The second came immediately, and lasted until 2013. In 2023 he inaugurated the third, which is still in full swing.
It is true that concrete progress was made in his first two terms. Insufficient, of course, but concrete. In the first presidency of the successor, Dilma Rousseff, that progress lost strength. In the second, he lost more. Then came the coup carried out by Congress, which overthrew her and put a whippersnapper named Michel Temer in the presidential chair, and everything came to a standstill.
It was then that an unbalanced and corrupt man named Jair Bolsonaro entered the stage – and the presidential office – and the scenario changed radically. Bolsonaro not only allowed, but also encouraged, and often financed with millionaire public resources, the environmental devastators who make up the so-called agribusinessand that for the most part their real business is to destroy everything in their path in order to fill their wallets until they burst.
Those who say that what you see when you look at Brazil is pure devastation are very wrong. That time has passed. According to what scientists from here and from other latitudes indicate – and verify – today what you see when you look at Brazil are clouds, heavy clouds that cover almost 85 percent of the territory of that country, which has continental dimensions. . Dark clouds that are pure pollution.
If in August and September there were long periods in which dark clouds covered 60 percent of the Brazilian space, in recent days it reached 80 percent. The intense – and unusual – heat experienced last winter contributed to the spread of the clouds that covered and cover the sky.
In one more week, next Sunday, there will be local elections in the almost 6 thousand Brazilian municipalities. And while the political parties and their candidates try to find an effective means to remove a large part of the electorate that is indifferent to date, the Electoral Justice tries to find effective methods to send electronic and fiscal ballot boxes to municipalities – some regionally important – who are on the verge of isolation thanks to the drought.
Yes, yes, it is true that Lula da Silva has good – and there are several – positive data to celebrate as the second year of his third term approaches the end. Unemployment, for example, fell to 6.6 percent, a new historical record. Employee income, meanwhile, grew. In August alone, just over 230 thousand new formal jobs were registered, that is, under the protection of all legislation.
But there are other alarming or, at the very least, outrageous data. For example: despite being one of the countries with the largest prison populations in the world – it loses to the United States and China, and nothing else – there are only 374 prisoners for environmental crimes, such as burning. I know two cafes in Ipanema that, combined with their tables, host more people on Saturday nights.
This is how unequal and absurd Justice is in the face of the destruction of what remains of my poor country. We have to see how long there is something left…
