'Operation Lava Jato is destroying Brazilian engineering,' denounces engineers' congress.

Finally, the engineering community began to denounce how harmful Lava Jato is to the national economy and how beneficial it is to foreign capital. The initiative came from the 11th National Congress of Engineers' Unions (Conseng), held last week in Curitiba.

"With the consolidation of the coup against President Dilma Rousseff's mandate, Brazilian engineering is suffering an unacceptable process of criminalization, with national companies closing, works paralyzed, and thousands of professionals laid off," says an excerpt from the Curitiba Charter, approved at the end of the event held between September 6 and 9.

The congress also denounced that the successive Lava Jato operations, which criminalize engineering professions, are leading to the denationalization of the economy and subordinating the sector to foreign capital.

“We repudiate corruption and demand accountability from all individuals involved in misconduct (…) The denationalization of the economy, currently underway in Brazil, deepens the dismantling of Brazilian engineering, subordination to foreign capital, social inequalities, and threatens national sovereignty. We also repudiate the handing over of Brazilian territory and privatizations,” says another excerpt from the document.

Engineers have reason to be suspicious of Lava Jato, because, in addition to the factual truth that proves the dismantling of the engineering sector, Judge Sérgio Moro, on the eve of the Independence Day holiday, showed prestige... book launch about privatization from the professors of the new gurus of privatization in the country — the Curitiba-based professors of Public Law Fernando Borges Mânica and Fernando Menegat.

The engineers also pointed out at the congress the urgency of a national project committed to Brazilian engineering, national sovereignty, and the working class.

O Conseng The event featured a keynote lecture by Senator Roberto Requião (PMDB-PR) and talks by Ambassador Samuel Pinheiro Guimarães; historian and professor Valter Pomar; economist and former president of Ipea, Marcio Pochmann; and sociologist and researcher Maria Rosa Lombardi.

Read the full text of the Curitiba Charter:

Letter from Curitiba

In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the first General Strike in Brazil and the Russian Revolution, we, engineers gathered at the 11th National Congress of Engineers' Unions (Consenge), express the urgency of a national project committed to Brazilian engineering, national sovereignty, and the working class.
We held the largest Congress in history, with over 300 participants, in addition to the largest delegation of women and students, a result of the work of the Fisenge Women's Collective and the National Student Collective, in various states.

With the consolidation of the coup against President Dilma Rousseff's mandate, Brazilian engineering is suffering an unacceptable process of criminalization, with national companies closing, projects paralyzed, and thousands of professionals laid off. These are intolerable consequences, resulting from the political crisis spearheaded by Operation Lava Jato. We repudiate corruption and demand accountability for all individuals involved in misconduct, without penalizing national companies.

Engineering is the engine of every country's economy, as it expands productive capacity and investment. The ongoing denationalization of the economy in Brazil deepens the dismantling of Brazilian engineering, subordination to foreign capital, social inequalities, and threatens national sovereignty. We also repudiate the surrender of Brazilian territory and the privatization of Eletrobrás, the Post Office, and the Mint. We demand the defense of Petrobras as a public and state-owned company, a strategic element for social development. Investment in science and technology is imperative, preventing the so-called "brain drain." A country without science and technology is a country without national sovereignty. Brazilian engineering possesses the technological expertise to conceive, formulate, build, design, and innovate solutions to improve living conditions for the population.

The profound transformations in the world of work, the so-called 4.0 Revolution, pose challenges in addressing the structural unemployment predicted internationally. Beyond the realm of benefits, it is necessary to contest the control and distribution of technologies.

We urgently demand the repeal of the labor reform and Constitutional Amendment 95, which sets a ceiling on public spending. We advocate for a reduction in the work week to 35 hours without a reduction in pay and the maintenance of social security. We support a popular political reform, with public campaign financing and the strengthening of political parties.

The crisis is global and there is no easy solution. We all have great responsibilities. And with great responsibilities come tasks. We have the historic task of resisting and fighting in defense of engineering, democracy, and national sovereignty.

Curitiba, September 09, 2017
11th National Congress of Engineers' Unions