All of them are conservative economic nationalists, most of them aren’t even PT; the only sort of leftwinger in the government is the minister of the environment, Marina Silva
This guys defends the right of property owners to take up arms against the MST.
Thiago Oppermann
Portuguese original at: http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/brasil/ ult96u43530.shtml
Lula’s Minister was Secretary under Fleury and is Opposed to MST Farm Occupations
Sílvia Freire Folha Online
Agronomist Roberto Rodriges ,50, was nominated today for the Ministry of Agriculture by president-elect Luiz Inácio da Silva, and arrives at the top echelon of the new government bringing with him the experience of having been secretary for Agriculture and Supply in the State of São Paulo between 1993 and 1994, during the governorship o Luiz Antonio Fleury Filho (ex-PMDB, now PTB [ie. Ex-centrist, now rightwing of the centre-left
*sigh*])
Rodrigues is an agricultural engeneer with qualifications in rural administration obtained at the UNAERP in Ribeirão Preto, and professor in the Department of Rural Economy in the UNESP, in Joboticabal, where he currently leaves. The future minister is also an agriculturalist in the municipalities of Jaboticabal and Guariba, in São Paulo and in Balsas in the state of Maranhão.
Since 1999, Rodrigues has presided over the ABAG (Brasilian Association of Agribusinesses), and entity which represents 45 large businesses and cooperatives in the agricultural sectors, including Monsanto, the fertiliser and biotech enterprise; banks and agricultural cooperatives.
Rodrigues represents the private sector in the Foreign Trade Business Council, and between 1992 and 1993, was the sector’s representatie in the National Monetary Council.
In an article published by the magazine Agroanalysis, of the FGV (http:// www.abagbrasil.com.br/) in march, Rodrigues criticised the farm occupations under the “respectable, but debatable flag of agrarian reform” and argued a defense of the property-ownders “who end up arming themselves to defend themselves”.
In the text, Rodrigues criticises the worker’s rights legislation which construes rural employers as debtors, as victims of specialist lawyers.
In another article, published in august in the same magazine, the future minister defended the association of government and private enterprise to increase the competitiveness of Brazilian products in the international arena, so as to increase exports.
In this text, Rodrigues says that the federal government has been “timid” in its actions in the funding, logistical and in international negotiations and criticises the Government for having refused to presen the WTO with a document composed by the Ministry of Agriculture about losses caused by American protectionism.
Rodrigues was one of the organises of the first national congress of rural economy, which for 18 years has defined the trajectories for development of agrobusiness in Brazil. This year he organized the first Brazilian Congress of Agribusiness, which will discussed policies to increase the competitiveness of the country internernally and externally.
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