Brazil President Lula da Silva Names 16 New Ministers
Incoming Brazil president Lula da Silva, whose term begins on January 1, announced 16 new ministers and has pledged to "rebuild the country" when Bolsonaro leaves power. Photo by EVARISTO SA/AFP via Getty Images

On Thursday, incoming Brazil president Lula da Silva selected 16 new ministers, including two party members who had previously led states in the country's northeast to oversee the education and welfare systems.

Lula's inauguration is in about a week, and he still needs to nominate a dozen people to various positions, per Associated Press News.

Former Ceara state governor Camilo Santana will now lead the Ministry of Education.

Meanwhile, Wellington Dias, once governor of Piaui, will now serve as Brazil's minister of social development.

The latter oversees the government's substantial welfare spending, and both have some of the highest budgets of any ministers.

Nísia Trinidade, who has headed the government's Fiocruz health research institute and vaccine production facility throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, will take over as Lula's health minister.

On Thursday, his transition team assessed the federal government, stating that health and education had taken major setbacks during President Jair Bolsonaro's four years in office.

In his campaign for reelection to the post he held from 2003 to 2010, Lula pledged to make these issues and the battle against poverty his main goals.

In a televised speech from Brasilia, the Brazilian capital, Lula stated, "I just want Brazilian society to know that the Brazil we found in December 2022, we received this government in a situation of penury - a situation in which the simplest things were done irresponsibly."

Brazil's 16 New Ministers

Incoming Brazil president Lula da Silva has promised that he will reveal 13 additional cabinet members next week. Vice-President-elect Geraldo Alckimin, who will head the Ministry of Development, Industry, and Commerce, filed the final report of the transition team, which led to the publication of the material.

According to Agencia Brasil, future Chief of Staff Rui Costa has already stated that there will be 37 ministries.

Here are the 16 new ministers:

  • Office of the Attorney-General (AGU) - Jorge Messias

  • Science, Technology, and Innovation - Luciana Santos

  • Office of the Comptroller-General (CGU) - Vinícius Marques de Carvalho

  • Culture - Margareth Menezes

  • Development, Industry, and Commerce - Geraldo Ackmin

  • Social Development - Wellington Dias

  • Human Rights - Sílvio Luiz Almeida

  • Education - Camilo Santana

  • Management - Ester Dweck

  • Racial Equality - Anielle Franco

  • Women - Cida Gonçalves

  • Ports and Airports - Márcio França

  • Health - Nísia Trindade

  • General Government Secretariat - Márcio Macedo

  • Secretariat of Institutional Relations - Alexandre Padilha

  • Labor - Luiz Marinho

Incoming President Lula da Silva Pledged To Govern for All Brazilians Despite Rejection From Bolsonaro Supporters

Incoming Brazil president Lula da Silva of the leftist Workers' Party (PT) narrowly defeated far-right incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro in a runoff election for president in late October.

Support for Bolsonaro, a former army captain, was 49.1 percent, while Lula was 50.9 percent.

Al Jazeera noted that although he has not accepted defeat yet, Bolsonaro has authorized the government transition amid widespread concerns that he would fight the results after months of erroneously claiming that Brazil's electronic voting system was open to fraud.

Since the results were released, many of Bolsonaro's supporters have participated in protests and barricades to show their continued rejection of the election's outcome.

On the day when Lula was certified as the new president, pro-Bolsonaro activists in the capital city of Brasilia attempted to invade the federal police headquarters.

As of late last month, the president of Brazil's highest electoral institution has denied a challenge to the election results made by Bolsonaro's supporters.

Judge Alexandre de Moraes called it "total bad faith," and he condemned it.

After one of the most controversial election campaigns in Brazilian history, Lula has made efforts to go across the aisle by saying he will rule for everyone.

The incoming Brazil president Lula da Silva has promised to safeguard the rights of Indigenous people, help lift millions of Brazilians out of poverty, and take on climate change and the rampant deforestation of the Amazon rainforest that has occurred since Bolsonaro took office.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

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