Coelho's is No Wonderland's Card Game

The Ministry of National Integration, as seen on my previous post, is set to play the most relevant role in Civil Defense policies and actions being conceived and yet to be funded by PM 553/2011 appropriations. However, the Minister himself is under intense media and Congressional cross-fire. Mr. Fernando Bezerra Coelho has been charged with accusations of nepotism and allocation of funds mostly to attend his grassroots' projects. To be fair, technical and circumstancial explanations have been presented to ward off each of those accusations, but the Minister's image is under severe scrutiny. And is this Cabinet full of precedents since day first... Risk of this one more minister being ousted in the next few days is more than moderate. The Senate, currently in recess, will have him speak in self-defense to the Representative Committee next Thursday.

But what really matters is this: President Rousseff has a well deserved reputation as a tough manager, and will not wait in vain for a proper response to the allocations she made to that Ministry, especially now that casualties by the dozens are being counted in the State of Rio de Janeiro alone, all inflicted by floodings occurred over the last two weeks.

It is time for Minister Coelho to respond fast and rise to the occasion, and the occasion calls for showing his plans and actions and the effectiveness thereof.

Let there be fire and let there be rain

As so many other countries, Brazil suffers from what some dispute to be the outcome of climate change: forests on fire, floods caused by rain. Anthropic deforestation through fire is another well known problem. As I write this, Rio Grande do Sul is facing a drought, while Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro count their deads caused by floodings resulted from heavy rain. It has been like this, the victims changing (or not) their latitudes year after year, without an organized and integrated prevention, rescue, response and recovery plan. But now the Federal Government, hopefully together with State Governments, show to be studying and planning to fight back.

*Provisionary Measure nº 553/2011 was edited on December 22, 2011, distributing allocations to three Ministries:

• Science, Technology and Innovation, for the creation of a National Center for Natural Disasters Monitoring and Alert (R$ 6million)
• National Integration, for public works for Natural Disasters prevention and Civil Defense actions (R$ 450million);
• Defense, cooperation in Civil Defense actions (close to R$ 78million).

The total amount of allocations thus distributed is close to R$ 534million (roughly US$ 288million).

This Provisionary Measure can take Brazil to a higher threshold regarding Civil Defense, and will create opportunities to the Private Sector in what it entails buying, among others:

• medical equipment
• rescue equipment
• medical support
• air support
• transportation
• telecommunication
• training
• (re)construction
• sheltering
• catering
• clothing
• water supply
• weather forecast systems and technology
• fire monitoring
• huge firefighting tools and equipments
• etc...

Brazil has little tradition in Civil Defense coordination. And is far from beeing fully equipped to address Natural Disasters. Our decision-makers need to be educated on how to address and with what tools and equipments available all the complex issues related to the matter.

A clear opportunity for new businesses.

Caio Leonardo

*A Provisionary Measure is a bill with full effectiveness of law since it is edited, sent to Congress for review within 120 days. It can be amended by any of the two Houses of Congress (first, the House of Representatives, then the Senate). If it is not approved, with or without amendments within those 120 days, the Provisionary Measure is deemed rejected, and its effects are null and void.

Welcome to Brazillery

This blog is meant to offer a view from within to those interested in Brazil: its economy, politics, policies; opportunities and bottlenecks; the role of Government, the interaction between Government and Private Sector; trends and not-so-trendy,yet relevant, issues.

Its standpoint is Brasília, the Capital, as interpreted by a weathered Government Relations professional.