This Thursday (31), Paulo Alvim, until then Secretary of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the portfolio, was officially announced as the new minister of the MCTI (Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation).
In his speech at the handover ceremony, Alvim stated that the Bolsonaro government has the purpose of improving the lives of the Brazilian people and highlighted the need for a greater budget for Science. “The recovery process that we need to do to correct the lost time is very big”, he justified.
Marcos Pontes, an astronaut who commanded the ministry since 2018, left office to run for the Chamber of Deputies, for the state of São Paulo.
In his speech, Pontes drew attention to some initiatives taken during his administration and the budgetary difficulties he faced.
“I complained a lot about our budget. It is the role of the minister to do that”, he said, indicating the need for the new minister to think about the amount and values of grants available to support research.
When Pontes was against the R$600 million cut to which the MCTI was submitted in October 2021, it unleashed an internal crisis. The astronaut was even called a “stupid” by Paulo Guedes, Minister of Economy.
Before joining the MCTI, Alvim, a civil engineer from UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro), has worked in other public bodies in the scientific area, such as Finep (Financier of Studies and Projects), FAP-DF (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Federal District) and the Secretariat of Science and Technology of Paraná.
In his speech, he stated that the Bolsonaro government is convergent. According to Alvim, in the ministerial meetings, normally held on Tuesdays, it was possible “to see the whole government together for one purpose: the improvement of the Brazilian people”.
The change in the command of the folder took place amid discussions about what would be the name chosen to replace Pontes. Recently, the astronaut considered giving up his candidacy for federal deputy if Bolsonaro chose to nominate someone from the center, such as Senator Daniella Ribeiro (PP-PB), one of the speculated names.
“It makes no logical sense for science or for the president [a possível escolha de Daniella]. Given the importance of continuing the MCTI structuring projects for the federal government, as well as their importance for all Brazilians, such as vaccines, renewable energy, research grants, etc., this hypothesis would have the immediate consequence of the summary cancellation of my candidacy and my continuity in the ministry”, said Pontes, about ten days ago, to the Panel column, sheet.
Pontes’ administration was marked by approximations with Bolsonaro. An example was the investment in medicines without proven efficacy against Covid-19, something repeatedly defended by the representative.
An example is the vermifuge nitazoxanide (known as Annita), which was defended again by Pontes at the minister change ceremony.
“Sometimes I hear in the press: ‘Nitazoxanide is not scientifically proven.’ The drug, however, remains without proven effectiveness.
In 2019, Pontes fired Ricardo Galvão, then president of Inpe (National Institute for Space Research), in the context of a crisis in which Bolsonaro claimed that deforestation data provided by the institute was incorrect.
