The Northeast is changing its face.

The Northeast is currently experiencing the worst drought in the last 50 years. It's sad. Even sadder is knowing that this is not a new phenomenon; it repeats itself in the history of the Northeast and its people.

It is difficult to imagine, in these days of globalization and rapid communication, human beings living with rationing of the most precious commodity in our daily lives: drinking, cooking, cleaning our homes, and performing the most basic act of personal hygiene in modern times: bathing. This is without even considering the lack of water to quench the thirst of livestock and irrigate crops.

Once in a while, we should wake up and think about what it would be like if one day we discovered that our reserves of drinking water had run out and that, under rationing, we only had enough water to quench our thirst and not die.

It's not hard to imagine. Just a few days would be enough, and surely the flowers would be withered, flies would have taken over the kitchen, and we would be transformed into dirty, smelly creatures. A science fiction movie? Not quite. This exercise is educational and makes us think about saving water and the importance of solidarity with those who don't have it in abundance.

Where there is no water, food is scarce or nonexistent. And the current situation in the Northeast is serious, having affected more than 1.415 municipalities in several states, according to statements by President Dilma Rousseff on her weekly radio program.

Given this situation, I commend your wisdom in understanding the human plight of the people from the Northeast and ensuring measures beyond those already implemented by the government in recent years.

The programs initiated during the government of former President Lula, such as Bolsa Família, Luz para Todos, Brasil Alfabetizado and Educação de Jovens e Adultos, Minha Casa Minha Vida, Um Milhão de Cisternas, among many others, have changed the face of the semi-arid region and the Brazilian Northeast. For the much better.

Since President Dilma Rousseff took office in January 2011, approximately R$ 32 billion has been invested in infrastructure projects to guarantee a permanent water supply in the region, including dams, canals, and water supply systems. The government will also implement emergency measures totaling R$ 17 billion.

Her words leave no doubt about it: "The federal government will not allow the people of the semi-arid region and the entire Northeast to be left helpless. As long as there is drought, we will act, accelerate infrastructure projects and emergency actions to help the population face all the difficulties," Dilma assured.

According to the president, the resources needed to immediately address the effects of the drought will be allocated to protecting farmers, expanding access to water, feeding livestock, supporting municipalities, and increasing access to credit.

The plan is for each farmer to receive a backhoe, a grader, two trucks (a dump truck and a water truck), and a front-end loader, in addition to 340 tons of corn between April and May, sold to producers at a subsidized price. In the past, livestock was sold before it died of thirst and hunger, or before it withered away with the advance of the drought.

The Northeast was the region of the country that grew the most in recent years, and I echo the president's words that our challenge to avoid losing the gains achieved in the last ten years will be to guarantee water security and the productive security of the population.

I'll go even further. We must uphold the achievements already attained and the dignity of the people of the Northeast, which, it must be emphasized, remains intact even in the most difficult times. Despite this crisis, there have been no reports of looting of warehouses or food stores.

People from the Northeast of Brazil are peaceful by nature, even in times of despair. I remember my grandmother telling me about the drought of 1930, when the only food available in the backlands was the root of a vine called Mucunan, grated and washed to make beiju (a type of flatbread). I heard stories that at the height of the drought and famine in the region, rural workers, carrying only a sack, would go in groups to the food warehouses, loot them, and return home with nothing but food for their families. No weapons were used.

I still vividly remember the saga of my grandparents. When they left the backlands of Pernambuco, they took children and belongings on the back of a donkey, and thus crossed all of Piauí until they reached the Mearim Valley in Maranhão, in search of a better region to live in.

I am from Maranhão, the son of migrants, and a migrant myself. Today, I am extremely happy to see the existence of social programs that have definitively changed the lives of people from the Northeast of Brazil. They no longer need to abandon their land to survive.