Lula government revokes Damares management program aimed at Marajó

The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) officially revoked, this Tuesday (5), the Embrace the Marajó program, created in the government of former President Jair Bolsonaro, during the management of former Minister and current Senator Damares. Alves.

According to Planalto, the program was the target of a series of complaints pointed out by the Commission for National Integration, Regional Development and the Amazon of the Chamber of Deputies. One of the complaints points out that the program was used “for the exploitation of natural wealth and to serve foreign interests, without benefit or social participation of the local population”.

The program created in the previous administration had the objective of “improving the Human Development Index of the Municipalities that make up the Marajó Archipelago by expanding the reach and access of the Marajoara population to individual, collective and social rights”. In all, 133 actions were created, divided into four axes: social development, infrastructure, productive development and institutional development. However, the PT government alleges that the indicators do not show positive results in the region after the start of the program.

Among the negative indicators, Lula’s administration cites vaccination coverage in the municipalities of Marajó, which went from 59.20% in 2019 to 42.20% in 2022. The infant mortality rate, which was 7.54 in 2018, was 7.89 in 2022. And the teenage pregnancy rate remained practically stable, being 28.6% in 2019, 27.5% in 2020 and 28.0% in 2021.

In May of this year, the Ministry of Human Rights created Cidadania Marajó to replace the program under the previous administration. The focus, according to the ministry, “will be on confronting the systematic violations of human rights that have historically occurred in the region.”

A People’s Gazette tried to contact Senator Damares to find out if she has anything to say about the new allegations about the old program, but has not yet had a response.

At the launch of the new program in May, the former minister denied the allegations and accusations made by the current government. Regarding the low effectiveness, the current senator presented reports with the program’s results and mentioned that more than R$1.1 billion were invested “in the territory in partnerships complementary to the government’s action in the archipelago”.