Authorities and politicians criticize Romeu Zema’s statements on the North and Northeast

Marcela Leiros – From Cenarium Amazon Magazine

MANAUS – The statements of the governor of Minas Gerais, Romeu Zema (Novo), regarding the states of the North and Northeast, made in an exclusive interview with Estadão, on Saturday, 5, had a negative impact on the political environment and even on social networks. Authorities such as the ministers of the Environment and Justice, Marina Silva and Flávio Dino, respectively, commented on the speeches, and the Northeast Consortium, whose president is the governor of Paraíba, João Azevêdo (PSB), repudiated the statements.

Marina Silva said, during the Amazon Dialogues event in Belém, Pará, that states in the South, Southeast and Midwest regions “have no life” without the federative units that occupy the Amazon. She also added, even without having seen the governor’s statement, the importance of the North and Northeast in the economy of Brazil and South America.

“I did not see the governor’s speech, I do not know the context, but what I can say is that the rains of the South, Southeast and Midwest are produced by the Amazon, and the original peoples of the Amazon are responsible for most of the preservation of this forest. Seventy-five percent of South America’s GDP is related to the rainfall produced by the Amazon,” said the minister.

Flávio Dino released his statement on the social network X, formerly Twitter. The minister called it absurd, without naming names, that the “extreme right is fomenting regional divisions”.“We need Brazil united and strong. It is in the Constitution, in art 19, that it is forbidden to ‘create distinctions between Brazilians or preferences among themselves’.Traitor of the Constitution is traitor of the Homeland, said Ulysses Guimarães”, says Dino.

Northeast repudiates

The Interstate Consortium for Sustainable Development of the Northeast (Consórcio Nordeste) released this Sunday, 6, through President João Azevêdo Lins, a note criticizing the statements of the governor of Minas Gerais. The document calls “worrying reading of Brazil” the vision that Zema has of the reality of the country.

The group also claimed that Zema’s speeches seem to “deepen the logic of a subaltern, divided and unequal country”. In the document, the governors recall that the union of the states of the North and Northeast is a way to compensate for historical inequalities.

“It is important to reaffirm that the regional union of the States of the Northeast and also of the North does not represent a war against the other States of the federation, but a way to compensate, through regional organization, the historical inequalities of development opportunities”, appears in the note. (See the note, in full, below)

Support for Zema

Zema received support from the governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Eduardo Leite (PSDB), who came out in defense of the front announced by the governor of Minas Gerais. To Estadão, Leite said the group wants to act for more balance in Tax Reform and not “discriminate” against any region.

“We never thought that the states of the North and Northeast had united against the other states. On the contrary: their union around agendas of their interests served as inspiration so that, finally, we can do the same, unite around what is common and important agenda to the States of the South and Southeast”, said the governor of Rio Grande do Sul to the report.

‘Little cows that produce little’

To Estadão, the governor of Minas Gerais, Romeu Zema, stated that the governors of the South and Southeast organized themselves into a bloc to gain political prominence over the North and Northeast, the South-Southeast Consortium (Cossud). The chief executive of Minas Gerais also referred to the states as “little cows that produce little”.

In the interview released on Saturday, 5, Zema makes an analogy to a pasture, referring to the states of the North and Northeast as “little cows that produce little”, but receive more incentives from the federal government.

“A fund is being created for the Northeast, Midwest and North. Now, what about the South and the Southeast, do they not have poverty? Here everyone lives well, nobody has unemployment, there is no community… Yes, there is. We also need social actions”, he defended.

“Otherwise you will fall into that story of the rural producer who starts only giving good treatment to the little cows that produce little and leaves aside those that are producing a lot. In a little while, those who produce a lot will start to complain about the same treatment”.