Ciro Gomes, PDT candidate for the Presidency of the Republic of Brazil, said that an important part of the Amazon region in the country is controlled by a "holding company of crime", involving drug trafficking, illegal mining, and smuggling of wood. Ciro was the second to be interviewed in the series "Proposals for the Amazon - Round of Interviews with the candidates for the Presidency of the Republic", a project led by Liberal Group , with the participation of press channels from the other states of the Legal Amazon.
Click here to read the full transcription of the interview
During the interview, the presidential candidate also criticized his direct opponents, Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), promised to revoke measures that facilitate access to weapons, and presented proposals for the Amazon region, if elected. The candidate started his participation by answering a question from journalist Daniel Nardin, content director of O LIBERAL, who asked about reconciling economic production and environmental conservation. "We can't choose between producing and preserving," said the presidential candidate, who considers that the country is experiencing a contradiction, once, for several decades, it has encouraged the occupation of the region intensively and in recent years has implemented more restrictive environmental policies, which directly affected migrants and representatives of local productive sectors.
"That is why Bolsonaro, being a tragedy, ends up having a prevalence, because he is a crude response to this serious contradiction. I intend to reconcile Brazil. How do I want to do that? First, establish an economic-ecological zoning, to be decided together with scientific and academic intelligence and with the community, political and peoples' leadership of the Amazon," said Ciro, clarifying that he intends this approach based on the knowledge of the productive potentials and vocations of each region. "I want to go down into the territory and understand the territory together with the Brazilian people," he added.
In another part of the interview, the candidate commented on the proposal announced in Belém by former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to create a Ministry of the Originating Peoples, with the nomination of a representative of the traditional populations to occupy the position. "Lula has tried to compensate with demagogic discourse the great contradictions of the period of his government," criticized Ciro Gomes, who then reinforced his defense of the project of economic-ecological zoning.
"It would be the basis from which we could pacify this very serious contradiction between what can and what cannot, between producing and preserving, in empowering the units... Today, the main focus of illegal deforestation is in conservation units. The main conflicts that deteriorate the way Brazil is perceived are, for example, the devastating news that two Yanomami children were swallowed by an illegal mining dredge", he declared, revealing his concern with the vulnerability to which the region is exposed.
Candidate questions measures that facilitated access to weapons
Candidate Ciro Gomes evaluated that today an important part of the Amazon is territory controlled by a "holding company of crime", which involves drug trafficking, illegal mining, and wood smuggling activities. "This is what we need to solve in Brazil," he stressed. On the other hand, the candidate positioned himself in opposition to the measures adopted by the current government to make the acquisition and carrying of weapons more flexible. "Of course I need to understand Brazil as it is, vast expanses. A citizen who cannot call 190 and the police arrive urgently should have the right to have a gun at home for self-protection, this I understand, this is normal. Evidently, the State needs to make an effort to guarantee an environment of peace, of repression to crime, of protection to families," added Ciro who, however, said he wants to revoke measures that facilitate access to weapons. "The illusion is serious that you, an armed citizen, will defend yourself. The bandit has the surprise factor, so it is completely untrue to think that freeing guns will improve public peace. This has never happened in the history of the world. The Americans, for example, are discussing this. I am going to revoke, I am going to review this entire statute. The citizen who is far away from the police, at home, has the right to carry a gun, this has no problem", he reinforces.
"I am going to cut 20% of tax waivers”
Another aspect highlighted by the candidate was the need to review the spending cap as a way to expand investments in social areas, such as health and education. "Nobody makes lunch for free. I will lower taxes on the working people and the middle class, the entrepreneurs, but I will have to say where the money comes from to improve health, education, infrastructure, and make the investments. Where is it coming from? From the super rich. I'm going to cut 20% of the tax breaks, naturally preserving absolutely the industrial hub of Manaus," said Ciro Gomes. According to the candidate, his government plan includes measures to tax large fortunes over R$ 20 million at a rate of 0.5% and update the income tax collection table. "I will radicalize a change in education. The goal here, planned in the budget, with targets, is to transform Brazilian education into one of the best in the world in 15 years," said Ciro Gomes, who also extended the proposal to the health area.
Presidential candidate highlights sustainable growth strategies
During the interview, journalists from all eight media channels that make up the pool coordinated by the Liberal Group were able to ask questions to the Presidential candidate. Participating in the broadcast were professionals from Imirante (MA); A Crítica (AM); Diário da Amazônia (RO); Gazeta do Cerrado (TO); Gazeta Digital (MT); Roraima em Tempo (RR); Gazeta do Acre (AC); and Diário do Amapá (AP). One of the highlights of the PDT candidate's speeches was the need to take advantage of the biodiversity in productive activities to generate jobs and income. "The great wealth of the Amazon is its biodiversity. This is an extraordinary potential. And the biodiversity will only be transformed into an economic event, into enriching income if we make the biotechnological domain and the extension and diffusion of this domain in the training of our people. Besides credit, market access, marketing," said the presidential candidate, who also stressed the importance of access to scientific knowledge produced by Amazonian institutions. "This (traditional knowledge) will only become an economic vector if there is a heavy, central partnership of a government that attracts large biotechnology companies from around the world to give us commercialization channels, but we ourselves need to develop our own biotechnology. We have the essentials. The traditional knowledge or the bottom of the forest is available to a well trained intelligence, well paid researchers, well stimulated, with the necessary time so that these technological domains can be extended to products, to services", said the candidate who glimpsed the potential of the region to differentiate itself in fields such as the production of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food and biomass.
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What is the "Proposals for the Amazon" project?
A round of interviews with the candidates for the Presidency of the Republic", headed by the Grupo Liberal in partnership with eight media channels, one from each state of the Legal Amazon, has the objective to guide themes related to the region in the presidential race, such as the environment, economy, health, education, telecommunications, infrastructure, etc.
The first interview was with Felipe D`Ávila (Novo Party). All interviews start at 12:30pm, with one hour duration, and will be shown live on oliberal.com, Radio Liberal FM and social networks. Learn more about the initiative here.
Check out the schedule of upcoming interviews:
September 6th: Ciro Gomes (PDT)
September 8th: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT)
September 9th: Soraya Thronicke (Union)
September 12th: Jair Bolsonaro (PL)
September 13th: Pablo Marçal (Pros)
September 14th: Simone Tebet (MDB)
Know which media channels are participating in the “Proposals for the Amazon” project
- Imirante (MA);
- A Crítica (AM);
- Diário da Amazônia (RO);
- Gazeta do Cerrado (TO);
- Gazeta Digital (MT);
- Roraima em Tempo (RR);
- Gazeta do Acre (AC);
- Diário do Amapá (AP).
