The president-elect of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, concluded the work of the transition team on Tuesday with harsh criticism of President Jair Bolsonaro, whom he described as an “irrational” and “inhuman” being.
Lula led a symbolic act with the team that, in recent weeks, has gathered information from the Bolsonaro government to prepare the management that the progressive leader will begin after his inauguration, on January 1.
“We have a perfect x-ray of the havoc that was done in this country, and the perfect word is havoc,” declared Lula, who specified that the new government will face a very serious social situation, given above all by the hunger suffered by some 33 million Brazilians. .
He attributed this reality to “that citizen”, alluding to Bolsonaro, of whom he assured that “he is an irrational figure, without a heart, without feelings, a liar, who is not capable of expressing a gesture of solidarity nor did he cry a tear for those who died of covid».
He stressed that Bolsonaro “continues to encourage the fascists who are on the street,” that this Monday they promoted violent protests in Brasilia and that since the elections on October 30 they have camped outside the barracks demanding a military coup that prevents his investiture.
He recalled that in his life he has been a candidate for the Presidency six times and that three of them he was defeated.
“Whenever I lost, I respected the person who had won and called him to congratulate him,” but “this citizen still does not recognize his defeat,” he said about Bolsonaro.
However, he assured that now “it is time to govern”, which “is to take care of the population and, above all, the poorest,” he guaranteed.
In the same act, he confirmed that Aloizio Mercadante, who led the transition team, will assume the presidency of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), which will focus on those most vulnerable segments of society.
According to Mercadante, the Lula government will find itself in a delicate fiscal situation and will be forced to “do more” with fewer resources.
“Although the current government says that the situation is very good”, it has been verified that “there are no resources for health, for education, for public safety or civil defense” and that there is a panorama that he defined as “a fiscal blackout”, he claimed.
Also this Tuesday, the popular singer Margareth Menezes was confirmed as the future Minister of Culture and the first black woman in the cabinet who will take office along with Lula on January 1.
Until now, Lula had already named his future ministers of Finance, Defense, Foreign Relations, Justice and the Presidency.
In the Treasury, he chose Fernando Haddad, a man of his greatest confidence, like Rui Costa, who will occupy the Ministry of the Presidency.
The Foreign Ministry will be headed by Mauro Vieira, a career diplomat who held this position between 2015 and 2016, during the administration of Dilma Rousseff.
The defense minister will be José Múcio, former director of the Court of Accounts, the body that oversees public accounts, and has a long and excellent relationship with the Armed Forces.
The Justice portfolio has been entrusted to Flávio Dino, a politician close to Lula who was the former governor of Maranhao and won a seat in the Senate in last October’s elections.
Lula has not fully configured his new government, but the transition team announced that it will have around 35 ministries, compared to the 23 that Bolsonaro maintained, who upon assuming power extinguished various portfolios, including Culture.
