Lula participates in the presentation of measures adopted after floods in RS | Policy

After flying over the areas affected by the floods in Rio Grande do Sul, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) participated this Sunday (5), in Porto Alegre, in a meeting with authorities from Rio Grande do Sul and members of the federal government to evaluate the actions adopted in the region.

The president, who is making his second trip to the state since the start of the floods, took a delegation from the three powers to Rio Grande do Sul. The state has so far recorded 75 deaths.

The presidents of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), and of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), and the vice-president of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), minister Luiz Edson Fachin, were part of the federal government delegation.

Lula disembarked at the Canoas air base and, by helicopter, flew over areas affected by the Guaíba flood in Porto Alegre and the metropolitan region. Then, in the capital, he led a meeting with government officials from Rio Grande do Sul and mayors.

After the meeting, federal and state authorities made a presentation to the press. The Minister of National Integration, Waldez Goés, stated that actions to rescue people continue, but that measures are also being adopted to reestablish services in municipalities where the rivers begin to recede, such as the Vale do Taquari region.

“It’s time for us to work hard on reestablishment,” he said.

The president of the Federal Court of Auditors (TCU), Bruno Dantas, made the body’s technicians available, guaranteed ‘priority’ to issues relating to the tragedy in Rio Grande do Sul and stated that in “exceptional moments we must also use more flexible rules so that the ultimate objective, the protection of citizens, is met efficiently and effectively”.

Fachin, who represented the STF at the meeting, stated that there is “no doubt” about the need for integration between institutions and pointed out the possibility of adopting an ’emergency and transitional legal regime for environmental catastrophe’ in Rio Grande do Sul.

The president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira, stated that ‘political differences have to be well aside, away from any politicization’ to help the state’s recovery.

Governor Eduardo Leite (PSDB) reaffirmed that it is the state’s ‘biggest climate catastrophe’ and cited the possibility of ‘shortages’ and ‘collapse’ in different areas, as Salgado Filho airport is closed, part of the highways are blocked and thousands of families are without electricity

“We are monitoring all the impact on the production chains that will have, because the animals do not arrive, the slaughterhouse was also affected, collapsed, this affects the lives of the workers naturally, but there is also a supply issue. So actions will have to be taken in this area. The impact on industry, due to inputs that will not arrive, or the companies that supply and that were affected, stoppages in industrial plants, which will require economic measures”, declared the governor.

Leite stressed that the floods affected more than 300 of the 496 municipalities in the state, stated that it will be necessary to provide credit lines and defended that tax legislation be made more flexible along the lines of what occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Public authorities here need to see and understand, President Lira, President Pacheco, […] The public sector is suffocated by this situation and will not be able to provide answers if we do not address exceptional actions also from a fiscal point of view”, he stated.

The mayor of Porto Alegre, Sebastião Melo (MDB), highlighted the need to accelerate the arrival of resources to municipalities, which will need to rebuild structures destroyed by the floods. The mayor recalled that there is a lack of equipment to face a tragedy of this scale.

“There is a lack of boats in the city, there is a lack of boats in the city, there is a lack of vests in the city, I’m talking about my city, but this extends to many dozens of municipalities and this cannot wait, it has to be today, it has to be now” , he stated.

“But we also have to worry about supply, 70% of the city is without water. The tanker trucks are almost out of diesel, oxygen is running out for Rio Grande and our city as well. We need to focus on saving lives first”, Melo added.