Latest news with #Lula
The Guardian
17 hours ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Brazil's environmental movement is under threat – and Lula is siding with oil industry
Political bullying is rarely as brutal as it was in Brazil this week when the environment minister Marina Silva was ambushed in a senate meeting. Her thuggish tormentors – all white male politicians on the infrastructure committee – took turns to publicly belittle the 67-year-old black woman, who has done more than anyone to protect the natural wealth of the country – the Amazon rainforest, Pantanal wetlands, Cerrado savannah and other biomes – from rapacious abuse. One by one, they lined up to attack her for these globally important efforts. Decorum gave way to name-calling and sneering: 'Know your place,' roared the committee head, Marcos Rogério, a Bolsonarist who cut Silva's microphone as she tried to respond. The leader of the centre-rightPSDB, Plínio Valério, told her she did not deserve respect as a minister. The Amazonas senator Omar Aziz – from the Centrão party and a supporter of president Lula – talked over her repeatedly. Their motives appeared to be partly ideological, partly misogynistic and largely self-interested. All of them were trying to force through economic projects – roads, oilfields, dams or plantations – that are under scrutiny by Silva's environment ministry. Never mind that this is her job, they seemed to say, how dare she not allow them to have their way? But she did dare. Despite her frail physique, Silva is a fighter. Born in the Amazon rainforest, she helped to found the Workers' party alongside Lula during the era of military dictatorship. She campaigned against deforestation alongside Chico Mendes, who was assassinated in 1988. In her first stint as environment minister, between 2003 and 2008, she established a monitoring-and-penalty system that she said reduced forest clearance by 80%. Later, she ran as president for the Green party, securing nearly 20m votes – more than any other Green candidate in world history. Twelve years ago, she founded her own party – the Sustainability Network. Silva refused to tolerate being abused and silenced, and walked out of the senate meeting. Outside, when she finally had a chance to speak, she turned on her tormentors: 'My place is the place to defend democracy, my place is the place to defend the environment, to combat inequality, sustainable development, to protect biodiversity, and infrastructure projects that are necessary for the country,' she said defiantly. 'What is unacceptable is for someone to think that because you are a woman, black, and come from a humble background, that you are going to say who I am and still say that I should stay in my place. My place is where all women should be.' This version of what happened has been reported widely in the Brazilian media, but it tells only part of the story. What is missing – and more important – is why the pack of senators felt Silva was vulnerable. That is because over the previous few days, Lula had taken the side of the oil industry rather than the Amazon rainforest, and then – not by coincidence – the Brazilian environmental movement suffered one of the biggest legislative defeats in its history. At the centre of everything is a long-running row over oil exploration in the Foz do Amazonas. BP and the French oil company Total used to hold most of these rights, but they baulked at the political and environmental challenge of drilling so close to the world's biggest centre of terrestrial biodiversity. Instead, Brazil's state-run oil company, Petrobras, stepped up. For Lula – and the senators in nearby regions – that meant potential votes, jobs and export earnings. The only thing standing in their way was the environment ministry, which has delayed a licence for years due to the risks of a possible spill in such an ecologically sensitive area. That handbrake was lifted earlier this week, when the head of the environmental regulator, Ibama, ignored the warnings of 29 expert advisers by moving on to the next stage of the approval process for operations in the Foz do Amazonas. This capitulation followed pressure from Congress and the president. This was followed by the biggest legislative setback for the environment in more than 40 years. To the delight of the mining, construction and farming industries, the senate has passed a long-pending bill that strips a range of environmental licensing powers from Silva's ministry. This piece of legislation – dubbed the devastation bill by opponents – allows companies to self-license or avoid environmental licensing for road construction, dam-building and other projects. It is a shift of control from the representatives of the people to the executives of big companies. Lula could yet wield a veto on this bill. But so far the president's response has been tepid. His party has a weak presence in congress, so he depends on a broad and fractious coalition, many of whose members are enmeshed in agribusiness or mining. Next year's presidential election seems to be weighing on his mind more than November's Cop30 climate summit in Belém. In the wake of the attacks on Silva by the senate infrastructure committee, Lula publicly came to her defence. He said she was right to walk out in the face of so much provocation. But he has not faced up to his responsibility for leaving her exposed. Nor has he faced up to the contradictions of his own promise to achieve zero deforestation by 2030 and his support for evidently incompatible projects, such as oil drilling off the coast of the Amazon, an upgraded BR319 road that would open up the forest between Manaus and Porto Velho to greater clearance activities, and a new grain railway that would increase pressure for more soya bean plantations. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion At the Amazon Summit in Belém two years ago, he declined to sign up to Colombian president Gustavo Petro's calls for a fossil-free rainforest. Soon after, at Cop28 in Dubai, his government shocked many of its supporters by announcing it would join the Opec+ oil cartel. Lula can argue that this is pragmatism as Brazil depends on petroleum sales for a growing share of its GDP. Fossil fuel realpolitik is likely to be evident at a Brics summit in Rio de Janeiro in July, where the Brazilian president will rub shoulders with China's Xi Jinping of China, Russia's Vladimir Putin, India's Narendra Modi and other world leaders. Lula has thrown Marina Silva under a cement mixer once before – in 2008, when she was forced to leave his second-term government because too many ministers saw her as a drag on economic development. He may feel reluctant to do so again before Cop30, because he knows she is vital for Brazil's environmental credibility in the eyes of much of the world, and he does not want his country to return to the pariah status it endured during the Bolsonaro years. But the sands are shifting and Lula seems unsure of his footing. His base – the working class and poor – are already suffering the brunt of climate impacts. The south of Brazil has been deluged by devastating floods. The northern Amazon has been stricken by record droughts and fires. Civil society and progressive thinkers – almost all of whom usually support Lula – have been far more active than the president in opposing the devastation bill and defending the environment minister on social media, where many public figures have posted 'Marina is not alone' messages of support. But like many other centre left leaders in the world, Lula is struggling in the age of Trump, of rightwing extremism, of warmongering, of geopolitical realignment and corporate backtracking on the environment. As Silva showed, it takes courage to face those forces. Lula has often stood by her in that fight, but does he still have the stomach and the inclination to continue?
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Moody's Cuts Brazil Outlook, Delivering Fiscal Warning to Lula
By , Giovanna Bellotti Azevedo, and Martha Viotti Beck Updated on Save Moody's Ratings lowered Brazil 's credit outlook to stable from positive, delivering a reproof to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government at a time when it is under increasing pressure to shore up the country's fiscal situation. The ratings firm, which upgraded the country in October, reaffirmed its Ba1 rating, one level below investment grade. But it cited expectations of larger fiscal deficits, slower progress in structural reforms and budget pressure from high interest rates to alter its overall outlook for Latin America's largest economy on Friday.
Reuters
a day ago
- Business
- Reuters
Brazil economic growth stays strong, supported by farm output, investments
BRASILIA, May 30 (Reuters) - Brazil's economy posted robust growth in the first quarter despite climbing interest rates as fixed investments, household consumption and strong farm output underpinned activity, pushing inflation to a two-year high. Gross domestic product in Latin America's largest economy rose 1.4% in the January-to-March period from the previous quarter, government statistics agency IBGE said on Friday, in line with the growth forecast in a Reuters poll of economists. GDP expanded 2.9% from a year earlier, below expectations for a 3.2% increase. On the supply side, agriculture stood out with a 12.2% gain from the previous quarter, fueled by a bumper soybean harvest. Services, which make up roughly 70% of Brazil's economy, expanded 0.3% amid a tight labor market, while industrial output slipped 0.1%. On the demand side, investments measured by gross fixed capital formation stood out with a 3.1% rise from the prior quarter. Household consumption also contributed with 1.0% growth, supported by measures from leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to boost disposable income, including a minimum wage hike. Government spending increased by 0.1%. The strong economic performance came despite the central bank's aggressive monetary tightening, which has raised the benchmark Selic interest rate by 425 basis points since September, to a nearly 20-year high of 14.75%. The government expects soaring interest rates to weigh more on economic activity in the second half of the year, projecting GDP growth to slow to 2.4% in 2025 from 3.4% last year.
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Lula Disapproval Rises as Scandal Feeds Corruption Concerns
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's disapproval rating rose in May as a burgeoning social security scandal helped turn corruption into Brazilians' top concern. The share of Brazilians who disapprove of the leftist leader rose to 54%, up four points from April, according to LatAm Pulse, a survey conducted by AtlasIntel for Bloomberg News and released Friday. His approval fell slightly to about 45%.
Middle East Eye
2 days ago
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Brazilian oil trade unions urge Lula to impose energy embargo on Israel
Two of the largest federations of trade unions for oil workers in Brazil have called on the government to impose an energy embargo on Israel. The National Federation of Oil Workers and the Single Federation of Oil Workers sent a joint letter to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and key ministers in the Brazilian government on Wednesday, urging them to take more concrete action against Israel's 'genocide' in Gaza. Referring to comments made by Lula in February, the federations said that Brazil needs to go beyond public rhetoric and implement an energy embargo against Israel in accordance with its international legal obligations to prevent the 'ongoing Nakba' - meaning 'catastrophe' in Arabic and referring to the mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinians in 1948 when Israel was created. In February, President Lula, while he was attending the African Union Summit in Ethiopia, accused Israel of committing 'genocide' against Palestinians in Gaza and compared its war on Gaza with Nazi Germany's extermination of Jews. The letter highlighted that 2.7m barrels of crude oil were exported from Brazil to Israel in 2024 alone, representing a significant portion of Israel's military fuel supply, and Brazil had a global responsibility to avoid complicity in war crimes, as articulated by legal experts and international judicial bodies. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters The letter cited action taken by other countries, such as Colombia's suspension of coal exports to Israel, and global grassroots campaigns such as #BlockTheBoat, where dockworkers around the world have refused to load Israeli ships and cargo and transport arms to Israel. In the United States, Block the Boat was organised by the Arab Resource and Organizing Center in San Francisco. In addition to the immediate suspension of oil exports to Israel, the federations urge the Brazilian government to suspend projects with Israeli energy companies, and support United Nations-led sanctions and measures to hold Israel to account. Signatories said this was an opportunity for Brazil to 'honor its diplomatic legacy, affirm its position on the right side of history, and ensure that its economic policies reflect its ethical and legal commitments to human rights and international law". The Single Federation of Oil Workers is a national trade union, while the National Federation of Oil Workers is a trade union federation comprised of independently operating oil workers' unions. Diplomatic backlash to Lula's comments Lula has been a longtime supporter of Palestine. His comment to reporters on 17 February in Ethiopia sparked a diplomatic backlash when he said that Israel's actions in Gaza were not a war, "It's a genocide". "It's not a war of soldiers against soldiers. It's a war between a highly prepared army, and women and children," he said. "What's happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people hasn't happened at any other moment in history. Actually, it has happened: when Hitler decided to kill the Jews." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Lula's Nazi Germany comparison was 'disgraceful and grave', while Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that Lula would be 'a persona non grata in Israel' until he took back his comments. Lula refused to take back his comments and recalled Brazil's ambassador from Israel. Reuters reported that his approval ratings fell from 54 percent to 51 percent after his comments. Lula also backed South Africa's International Court of Justice case against Israel in January, which ruled that a 'plausible genocide' was happening in Gaza. An official statement highlighted Lula's role in the decision: 'The president expressed his support for South Africa's initiative to bring Israel before the ICJ to determine that Israel immediately ceases all acts and measures that may constitute genocide or related crimes under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.'
