First change: 23.12.2022 – 12:41
Within days of taking office as Brazil’s president, Lula da Silva announced 16 new ministers while parliament approved the budget for his first year in office. Lula will take over the presidency on January 1, bringing the number of ministries to 37, up from 23 in the government of far-right Jair Bolsonaro. Lula also explained that he is welcoming a country in dire straits.
By appointing important human rights defenders to his cabinet, the future president of Brazil has sent an important message about what he wants for his government: “Lula 3” will be the most diverse government, not just the large alliance in terms of political formations that he has in the Supported by elections, but also representativeness of society.
For details on the announcement of the 16 names from a total of 37 ministries that the new Brazilian government will have, RFI spoke to Joao Alberto Alves, Professor of International Relations at the University of Sao Paulo.
For the Brazilian academic, the appointment of Anielle Franco as Minister of Racial Equality is of great importance, since it will “take into account different sectors traditionally excluded from politics, from the big politics of the country” and symbolically represents the continuation of the struggle of Marielle Franco, the sister of the future minister, a key human rights defender who was shot dead in March 2018.
“I would like to highlight that out of the 16 names announced, the appointment of Professor Silvio Almeira, who will take over the Ministry of Human Rights, has been the most fulfilling for me. He is one of the most important voices in defending human rights, fighting structural racism, institutional racism, fighting inequalities. It seems to me to be a symbol, a framework, at least for what the new Lula government is trying to do for the country,” he said.
Introducing some members of the new government, Lula painted a very bleak picture of the Brazil he is inheriting in areas such as education, culture or the environment. However, Alberto Alves explained that, in addition to these challenges, Lula also has to take care of “a divided country, a politically divided population and a population in extreme misery, in hunger, in chronic famine”: in Brazil, 33 million people find themselves in this extremely precarious one Situation.
“[Lula] You also have to rebuild everything that was destroyed in the last 4 years. For this reason, I am very concerned that Congress consists of a conservative majority, with broad participation from the parties that formed the basis of the Bolsonaro government, particularly in the Senate General.
Lula da Silva will take over the presidency on January 1st.