BRASILIA.- The president-elect of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, confirmed on Friday that the former mayor of São Paulo fernando haddad he will be his finance minister, ending days of speculation over some of his key ministerial appointments.
“(I chose) compañero Fernando Haddad as Minister of Finance,” Lula stated during a press conference in Brasilia, in which he also announced the former foreign minister Mauro Vieira in Foreign Relations and the Governor of Bahia Rui Costa as Minister of the Civil House (head of cabinet). Also, Senator-elect Flávio Dino, from the PSB, will go to Justice and Public Safety, and Jose Mucio Monteirowhich has no party affiliation, to Defending.
“We are working for the reconstruction of Brazil! Prime Ministers of the new Brazilian government announced! wrote the leader of the PT on Twitter when sharing the list of the chosen ones who will accompany him from on January 1, when he assumes his government to replace that of Jair Bolsonaro. The announcement took place at the Banco do Brasil Cultural Center (CCBB) in Brasilia, where the government transition team works.
“I made the decision to introduce some ministers and next week I will present some more, and then I will announce more,” Lula said. “Possibly on Sunday I will have a conversation to define how many ministries we are going to have, what secretariats we are going to have.”
Among the most awaited charges is the head of Environment, to which Lula promised to provide resources to combat deforestation and preserve the Amazon. The future president promised to form a government with greater diversity, “that has the face of Brazilian society.”
“There will come a time when You will see here more women than men and the participation of many Afro-descendant colleagues”, he said this Friday following naming five men.
Lula da Silva, who defeated Bolsonaro in the October 30 ballotage, will assume power on January 1 for the third time, following having ruled Brazil between 2003 and 2010.
Fernando Haddad – Economy
fernando haddad He is considered the dolphin of Lula da Silva, but the ideas of this leftist leader are viewed with suspicion by the market. will happen to Paulo Guedeswho was in charge of Economy, a “superministerio” that far-right President Jair Bolsonaro created by merging the Treasury, Planning and Industry portfolios.
Haddad, 59, was the mayor of São Paulo, the largest Latin American metropolis, between 2013 and 2017, and also with the support of Lula, he was a presidential candidate in 2018 (while the PT leader was serving a sentence for corruption), when he was defeated by the far-right Jair Bolsonaro.
A few days ago, the possible appointment of this professor of Political Science and former Minister of Education caused falls in the São Paulo stock market and rises in the price of the dollar.
Following the announcement of his appointment, the Ibovespa index of the Sao Paulo stock market traded slightly upwards (+0.5%), around 11:50.
Haddad is expected to promote “an increase in public spending (…) and a bigger state with an important role for public companies,” Antonio Madeira, an economist at MCM Consultores, told AFP.
Lula assured this Friday that he will re-create the Ministry of Planning, where he will appoint someone “capable of taking care of the budget”, in tune with Haddad.
Mauro Vieira – Canciller
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be commanded by Mauro Vieira, a career diplomat who was chancellor during the second term of Dilma Rousseff (2015-2016) and was ambassador in Argentina (2004-2010) and in the United States (2010-2014). Since he left the Itamaraty Palace, he was the representative of Brazil at the United Nations (UN) and is currently Ambassador to Croatia.
Vieira was part of the delegation that accompanied Lula to the UN climate conference in November cop27, in which the leftist announced that “Brazil is back” on the international scene, following what he described as four years of “isolation” under the Jair Bolsonaro government.
Rui Costa – Chief of Staff
The actual Governor of Bahia He will finish his second term with 85% approval. Better known for his managerial profile than his political skills, Costa’s political godfather is Senator Jacques Wagner, one of the congressmen closest to Lula.
Born in Salvador, the economist has been a member of the PT since 1982. He was elected federal deputy for Bahia in 2010. Two years later, he took leave to assume command of the Civil House in Wagner’s second term. The position secured him to run for state governor in 2014. Four years later, he was re-elected in the first round with 76% of the vote.
José Múcio Monteiro – Defender
Múcio is known for his ability to bond with parties across the political spectrum, from the PT to Bolsonarism, and with the military.
Former president of the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU), he assumed his first public office in 1975, when he became deputy mayor of Rio Formoso, in Pernambuco. At that time, he was affiliated with Arena, the party that supported the military dictatorship in the country. He was chosen deputy five times and was the leader of the PTB when the corruption scandal broke out in Parliament monthly allowance, during Lula’s first government.
Born in Pernambuco as Lula, Múcio became one of the parliamentarians closest to the then president. His moderate and conciliatory style qualified him to occupy the position of chief of staff in the Chamber of Deputies in 2007 and, later, to assume the position of Minister of Institutional Relations, in charge of conducting dialogue with Congress.
Flavio Dino – Justice and Public Safety
Elected senator in the October elections, Dino, 64, was already the favorite to take over the Ministry of Justice and Public Security. Former governor of Maranhão, he coordinates the technical group that discusses issues related to the area in the transition team. One of the main measures announced as a priority will be the repeal of Jair Bolsonaro’s decrees that made the purchase and possession of weapons in the country more flexible.
Joining the PT in 1987, Dino began his political career in the Maranhão student movement. At the age of 26, he became a federal judge in Maranhão and the Federal District and even presided over the Association of Federal Judges of Brazil (Ajufe). In 2006, this law professor joined the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB), where he stayed for 15 years, until he emigrated to Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) last year. In the same year that he joined the PCdoB, Dino was elected to the Chamber of Deputies.
In 2011, during the government of Dilma Rousseff, he assumed the presidency of Embraturwith the promise of increasing the flow of foreign tourists in Brazil, ahead of events such as the World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. Then he won the elections to governor of Maranhão with more than 60% of the votes and was re-elected in 2018.
Before the press conference, the vice president-elect, Geraldo Alckmin, coordinator of the transition, made a kind of balance, reporting how the transition groups acted in recent weeks, when they reviewed the “inheritance” they will receive from the Bolsonaro government.
The final report will have a diagnosis of each area, alerts for the first months of government. Budget emergencies, suggestions for repeals in each area, structure proposals for each area, and priority actions,” Alckmin said.
In this regard, Lula said that it will be the “most democratic” transition in the history of government transitions in the country.
“When the transition is over, we will try with the utmost seriousness and sobriety to present to Brazilian society what we find as a result of the current government, without having to put on a fireworks show. We want society to know how health, education, science and technology are, the situation of retirees, workers, so that society knows, because if we do not present it now, the excesses that the current government has done “, said.
Agencies Archyde.com, AFP and O Globo (GDA)
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