Brazilian President Lula promises to reopen the country’s culture ministry

Brazil’s newly elected president Inácio Lula da Silva has announced that his government will restore the country’s culture ministry after it was dissolved by his right-wing predecessor Jair Bolsonaro in 2019.

In a series of sweeping promises released on his first day in office, Lula said his administration would reopen the ministry “with the ambition to more forcefully reopen policies of promotion and access to cultural assets,” which he says a big step forward. “the recent will improve The time is riddled with obscurantism”. Year.”

“A democratic cultural policy must not shy away from criticism nor choose favourites,” he said.

Lula, who is serving his third term, added: “May all the flowers sprout and all the fruits of our creativity be picked, may all enjoy it without censorship or discrimination.”

Bolsonaro dissolved the Ministry of Culture on his first day as president in 2019 and folded the high office into a new government department with the offices of social policy and sports to create the “Ministry of Citizenship” as part of a policy to to increase the number of government offices.

During Bolsonaro’s controversial tenure, the culture minister’s work remained at the center of political scandals and so-called culture wars in Brazil. Lula’s first choice for the role, Henrique Medeiros Pires, left the company in 2019 after the government cut funding for LGBT films and accused the government of discrimination. Ricardo Braga, Bolsonaro’s second choice, was transferred to the Ministry of Education after two months. Bolsonaro’s third minister of culture was fired in 2020 after paraphrasing Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels in an online video promoting a national art prize.

Legendary Brazilian musician Gilberto Gil served as culture secretary during Lula’s last two terms, from 2003 to 2010. Lula announced in December that he had chosen Brazilian singer Margareth Menezes to take on the cultural role.

In her first public statement as minister on Tuesday, Menezes said the new culture ministry “will be where the arts and culture sector will have a presence.”

“It is time for us to join forces, rekindle possible alliances and overcome differences of opinion to carry out this effort. MinC is back to stay. Long live Brazilian culture!” she said.