Published 04/29/2024 05:00
Among the right-wing pre-candidates for Mayor of Rio is federal deputy Otoni de Paula, president of the MDB-Rio municipal directory. An evangelical pastor, he is in his second consecutive term in the Chamber of Deputies. In an interview with the column, his responses focused on criticizing the city’s current president, Eduardo Paes. “The truth is that Rio is in the red. It’s no wonder that Eduardo Paes has already borrowed another R$950 million this year. In this third administration, there have already been R$5 billion in loans,” he said.
SIDNEY: Are you a pre-candidate for mayor of Rio?
OTONI DE PAULA: Yes, my name is available to the party (MDB) and the people of Rio. Eduardo Paes has been in power for twelve years. Ask any Carioca: do you feel safe in the city? Do you approve the Health service? Do you have daycare for all children? Is there air conditioning in the classrooms? And on buses? Of course! To soften the image, he is spending a fortune on marketing and saying he remade the BRT. Yes, he did, but he could have done three. The truth is that Rio is in the red. It’s no surprise that Eduardo Paes has already borrowed another R$950 million this year. In this third administration, there were already R$5 billion in loans. And it doesn’t stop there, just recently it was reported in the press that the city ended 2023 with a deficit of R$1.4 billion. Everyone knows that this year the budget will not close again. But he makes up the numbers. This method is very irresponsible. See that, in 2016, he handed over the city hall with almost R$6 billion in debt. This needs to stop. In this context, our candidacy arose.
Former president Bolsonaro chose Alexandre Ramagem as his candidate to face Eduardo Paes. Did he do it right?
There is nothing more natural than Bolsonaro supporting a member of his party. I respect his choice and add that we have a common goal. We know that the main problem in Rio de Janeiro is violence. And the current mayor says this is not his responsibility. But he has the largest number of municipal guards in Brazil in his hands. Unfortunately, he only uses it to beat street vendors, fine drivers and take care of statues in public spaces. The discussion about the Guard’s training and armament needs to move forward. A city’s greatest asset is its people, the main mission is to protect Rio’s residents. Public lighting, for example, the city has become a real blinker. Isn’t this the mayor’s responsibility? In this sense, Ramagem has strength. He is an experienced delegate, my colleague in the Federal Chamber.
Rio’s municipal education network has a deficit of 6,000 teachers. What is needed to improve public education in Rio?
Change the mayor. We don’t have a budget problem. We have a management problem. Last year, R$8.8 billion were invested in the municipal education network and this year we have a budget forecast of R$9.4 billion. Even so, there is a lack of teachers, we do not have a clear policy regarding positions and salaries for our educators, the rights of students with special educational needs are not respected. According to the annual education report promoted by the City Council, 76% of Rio’s municipal schools need urgent repairs. Furthermore, 62% of schools in the municipality do not have sports courts in adequate conditions and 35% do not even have sports courts. And finally, Eduardo cut R$25 million from the budget forecast that would have been used to air-condition our classrooms, which is a public health issue, as some of them exceed a temperature of 40 degrees. They took money from the public school, but gave R$10 million to the Madonna show. It is very clear that there is a reversal of priority here.
Public security is one of the most sensitive points in the state of Rio, with the presence of drug trafficking and militias. What to do to face this?
Let’s be honest: Rio’s problem is that part of its politics goes hand in hand with organized crime. For some politicians, it is cheaper and guaranteed votes from areas where the population is hostage. It’s called the “vote of fear”. As I said previously, it is no longer possible to place all responsibility on the State. For example, why was law 13,675/2018, which places the Municipal Guard as a public security agent, not applied? Why was decree 10,822, which created the National Public Security Plan, not implemented? It provides for the creation of the Municipal Public Security Plan. But, where is it? I make it clear that we have a very competent Guard. The problem is that the leader uses the troops poorly. If I have the honor of being mayor, we will create the Municipal Security Academy, with a requalification course, technical, operational and psychological training. We will gradually arm our GM. I repeat: Rio’s greatest asset is the Cariocas.
According to research by the Institute of Health Policy Studies, coverage in the State of Rio reaches only 57% of the population. This is why hospitals in the capital of Rio end up having a much greater demand than expected as they serve other municipalities. How to solve this problem?
This is a chronic problem. The health of the capital has been in emergency for a long time. But in neighboring cities it’s worse: you’re in the ICU. And as hospitals have their doors open, there is no way to deny patients. The solution is a frank conversation between governments (federal, state and municipal) to redefine responsibilities. Now, for example, the proposal to municipalize the management of some federal units has emerged. This idea has not yet been debated, a public hearing is about to take place in the City Council. I am observing this movement. What cannot happen is the famous “let me leave you”. Do you remember the problem that occurred when the municipality took over some state hospitals? It generated a huge crisis in service. And, as always, those who suffer most are the poor.
The capital’s municipal bus fleet is, on average, 7 years old. There was an agreement in 2022 between the City Hall, Prosecutor’s Office and consortia to pay subsidies to improve quality, but so far it has not been done. How to speed this up?
That’s a hell of a hornet’s nest. But the person who signed the contract with the bus companies was the current mayor. He did it and didn’t respect it. That’s why it became this mess. In the field of solutions, it seems clear that the municipality needs to invest. Today you have “zero fare” in some cities in Brazil. Of course, this requires serious study before we can make a decision. We are very late, to this day no one knows for sure how much the system costs and how much the entrepreneurs profit. Remember that black box? Go from there! We need to put the numbers on the table and call businesspeople for a new agreement, because this current contract has already shown that it does not work.
