The governor of Rio Grande do Sul, (), was booed this Tuesday afternoon (20) when he participated alongside the president (PT) in a ceremony to sign contracts linked to the construction of ships for the , in Rio Grande, in the south of the state.
The first boos occurred when Leite’s name was mentioned during the ceremonial ceremony and then in Mayor Darlene Pereira’s (PT) speech, while she thanked the governor for the partnership. When he was called to the microphone, the boos gained momentum and Leite had difficulty starting his speech.
“It’s an institutional environment, it’s not an electoral rally”, he protested, while being interrupted by the noise from the audience, made up mainly of workers linked to the state-owned company and members of social movements.
“Is this the love that overcame fear? No, right? Let’s respect it, please. I’m here fulfilling my institutional duty. The president and I were elected by the same people. We are different. But we don’t need to think alike. It’s important that we think about Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil, and that’s what we do when we work in a coordinated way”, said Leite.
Throughout his term, Leite remained in the opposition camp to Lula, but he is also not considered an ally of Jair Bolsonaro (PL), like other governors in the right-wing camp.
The PSD prefers to support the governor of São Paulo, (Republicans), for the presidential contest in October, but names from the PSD also presented themselves as an option, such as the governor of Paraná, Ratinho Júnior, and Leite himself.
“In the last election, Brazil had a president elected by 50.8% of the votes, 49% of the population voted for another candidate. If you want unity and reconstruction, don’t simply antagonize anyone who thinks differently. This doesn’t lead anywhere. The effective union that we want for our country involves respect, respect for functions, people, environments”, continued Leite, trying to reduce the booing.
The governor said that the audience’s attitude leads to “igniting even more hatred, resentment and hurt in the other half, and we don’t want that.” He also asked for the federal government’s attention to the South region.
“We made a great effort to attract a vehicle manufacturer to Rio Grande, but unfortunately there is a deep federative imbalance that needs to be corrected. Sudene [Superintendência do Desenvolvimento do Nordeste] offers a 75% reduction in Income Tax”, complained Leite, amid boos. “I’m not blaming the president. It’s a historical distortion”, he replied to the audience.
The last to speak at the ceremony, Lula did not directly address the booing episode, but mentioned the governor twice, in a friendly tone.
A pre-candidate for re-election, Lula took advantage of the enthusiastic audience — who at one point shouted “no amnesty” — and set an electoral tone for his speech. The president has repeated that he is concerned about “the factory of lies” that circulates on cell phones and started asking people to face the problem. “Report or delete, don’t pass it on.”
“The right has an industry of lying. Very powerful. In the campaign [Donald] Trump, they made 2 million messages against his opponent in the last week. This is how the campaign will be”, said the PT member.
The president disembarked in the morning and had two agendas in the city of Rio Grande. The first was a ceremony to hand over affordable housing. Afterwards, the PT member’s delegation headed to the Naval Pole, for a visit to the Rio Grande Shipyard, managed by Ecovix.
At the Naval Pole, the president participated in the signing ceremony of a contract between Ecovix and Transpetro, a subsidiary of Petrobras, for the construction of five gas tankers at the Rio Grande Shipyard, in addition to another 36 vessels (18 pushers and 18 barges).
In total, the investment is R$2.8 billion and is part of Petrobras’ Mar Aberto program.
During the agenda, the president of Petrobras, Magda Chambriard, also confirmed that the state-owned company will invest R$6 billion in transforming the Riograndense Refinery into the country’s first biorefinery, with operations expected to begin in the second half of this year.
In the early afternoon, Lula participated in the handover ceremony for the Junção project, a housing complex in . Started in 2016, Junção brings together 1,276 housing units and should benefit more than 5,000 residents, according to an estimate from Rio Grande City Hall.
