President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva criticized, this Friday (27), the governor of Minas Gerais, Romeu Zema, for not having presented projects for works and prevention of climate disasters, despite having resources of around R$ 3.5 billion from the PAC. When speaking at the closing of the 6th National Conference of Cities, in Brasília, Lula also said that the disasters caused by floods are the result of historical neglect of the country’s poor people.
The Minister of Cities, Jader Filho, when reinforcing the President of the Republic’s criticism of the Minas Gerais government, added that resources could be allocated to slope containment and macro-drainage works.
This Saturday (28), Lula will visit the Minas Gerais cities of Juiz de Fora and Ubá, the cities most affected by the storm. At least 64 deaths caused by the floods have already been recorded.
The president also defended the need to apply resources to prevent socio-environmental disasters. “It is neglect because a mayor may know in advance that a certain area cannot be occupied”, he explained.
Brasília (DF) 10/21/2025 – The Minister of Cities, Jader Filho, also criticized Jair Bolsonaro’s government for having allocated little resources to works against floods caused by climate events Photo-file: Fabio Rodrigues-Pozzebom/ Agência Brasil – Fabio Rodrigues-Pozzebom/ Agência Brasil
Jader Filho also criticized the previous government, of President Jair Bolsonaro, for the lack of resources allocated for prevention. He highlighted that the previous government allocated only R$6 million for this purpose.
“We put more than R$32 billion into prevention. For Rio Grande do Sul alone, it was R$6.5 billion. Science shows that we have to make our cities more resilient, adapted and prepared for extreme weather events.”
Impacts
According to the most recent report State of the Climate, Weather Extremes and Disasters in Brazil, from the National Center for Natural Disaster Monitoring and Alerts (Cemaden) showed that, in Brazil, the succession of extreme weather events directly impacted 336,656 people and generated economic losses of around R$3.9 billion.
As an emergency relief action for flood victims in Brazil, the National Civil Defense authorized, today, a transfer of R$ 6.19 million for response actions in seven municipalities affected by natural disasters in Minas Gerais, Piauí and Rio Grande do Sul.
Violence against women
In addition to discussing the impact of disasters, Lula once again spoke out about the need to improve the fight against violence against women, including joint campaigns with the three Powers on this topic.
“This is so serious that I told the Minister of Education [Camilo Santana] that we will have to start preparing, at daycare, the boy so that he knows that he is not bigger or more important than the woman”, he said.
The National Cities Conference had not been held for 13 years and the debates and proposals revolved around the event’s theme: “Building the National Urban Development Policy: paths to inclusive, democratic, sustainable cities with social justice”.
