The 77-year-old new head of state began to implement the promises of his election campaign.
A day after he was sworn in, Brazil’s new center-left president, Lula, signed decrees to limit gun ownership and strengthen protection of the Amazon rainforest, moves that are the opposite of policies implemented by the government of his predecessor, the far-right Zeich. Bolsonaro.
In the 24 hours that followed his swearing-in ceremony last Sunday in the Brazilian capital, the 77-year-old new head of state began to implement the promises of his election campaign.
Arms
With a presidential decree published yesterday Monday in the official Government Gazette, Lula suspended for two months the granting of new permits to carry firearms and purchase ammunition for hunters, collectors and those involved in the sport of shooting (these three categories are often mentioned together, with the acronym CAC).
This particular category of citizens has seen its arsenal triple in the four years of Mr. Bolsonaro’s term in office: registered weapons have reached one million.
In addition, Lula restricted the ability to purchase weapons and ammunition for some permitted uses and suspended the granting of new licenses to CACs as well as the issuance of new licenses to open shooting clubs and/or shooting schools.
Luis Inacio Lula da Silva even created a task force tasked with proposing new regulation, similar to the civilian disarmament program enacted in 2003, in his first term.
“The gun control decree seeks to close the irresponsible period of ‘everything is allowed’, which was incompatible with the Constitution,” Lula’s Minister of Justice and Public Security, Flavio Ginou, said on Twitter.
Amazonite
The new head of state also signed a series of decrees aimed at strengthening the protection of the Amazon, as deforestation of the rainforest has increased by an average of 75% annually over the past decade.
In particular, Lula established a “permanent inter-ministerial committee for the protection and control of deforestation”, while reactivating the Amazon Fund, which had been created in 2008 to raise donations to invest in the forest and its protection .
The Fund for the Amazon went on ice in 2019 due to chaotic differences of opinion on the destination of the funds between Norway and Germany, the two countries with the largest contributions to it, and the Bolsonaro government. Both Oslo and Berlin have expressed their intention to finance it again.
In addition, Lula revoked a decree that allowed the exploitation of precious metal deposits in indigenous and protected areas for environmental reasons.
Bolsa Familia
On Sunday, before his inauguration was well over, Lula signed a decree extending the popular “Bolsa Familia” (“Family Allowance”) program, which goes up to 600 reais (110 euros) a month for the poorest families.
It was a promise he had made after painstaking negotiations with parliament in December to exempt this welfare program from the ceiling on public spending.
Lula also signed an increase in the minimum wage from 1,212 to 1,320 reais (about 245 euros), a decision that had not yet been published in the Government Gazette yesterday.
The approximately 125 million Brazilians—out of a total population of 215 million—who are beneficiaries face food insecurity and 30 million face the specter of hunger.
Privatizations
Lula halted the process of privatizing eight state-owned enterprises that began under Mr. Bolsonaro, including the state oil company, Petrobras, and the Brazilian post office. He declared during his election campaign that he does not want any public company to be privatized.
Confidentiality, waste workers
Brazil’s new president has ordered a review, within thirty days, of several decisions by his predecessor to impose confidentiality on government information and documents.
Jair Bolsonaro had repeatedly decreed the confidentiality of public documents, barring access to them for fifty years, for example documents relating to his vaccinations or his visits to former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro.
Lula also instructed the general secretariat of the presidency to work on the creation of a new program, christened “Pro-Catador”, with the aim of improving working conditions for those employed in waste collection.
Read the News today and get the latest news.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news.
With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
