Boulos launches program to strengthen ties between Lula and the peripheries.

247 - The Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, Guilherme Boulos (Psol), launched this Saturday (8) the Government on the Street program, aimed at bringing the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) closer to the peripheries of the country, one year before the 2026 elections. The inaugural event took place in the Campo Limpo neighborhood, in the south of São Paulo, where Boulos lives, bringing together residents and community leaders.

According to FSPThe event took place on a football field surrounded by modest dwellings. The ceremony was attended by representatives of social movements including waste pickers, delivery app workers, young people from rap battles, and members of the experimental kitchen of the MTST (Homeless Workers' Movement), an organization of which the minister is one of the founders.

During his speech, Boulos highlighted the role Lula assigned him in the mission of strengthening dialogue with communities. "Lula asked me to be a minister who travels to the peripheries of Brazil. To do what we did here, which is to listen to workers and movements, but not only listen: to bring solutions," he stated.

Among the program's first actions, Boulos announced the launch of a participatory budgeting platform, which will allow the public to submit proposals and define investment priorities. The minister said the website should be launched later this year and will be a direct channel between the federal government and citizens.

The new head of the General Secretariat emphasized that the initiative aims to reconnect the government with the people of the peripheries, recognizing that this public has been the target of disputes from other political camps. Studies cited by Folha indicate that, since 2012, the PT has lost ground in peripheral regions of São Paulo, where centrist parties have expanded their influence.

Even so, Boulos rejected the idea that the left had distanced itself from its popular base. "The left hasn't lost its connection with society, so much so that it won the last election with President Lula with popular votes. He won by a wide margin among those who earn up to two minimum wages, which is the people from the peripheries," he declared.

The minister also defended popular participation as a principle enshrined in the 1988 Constitution, criticizing right-wing state governors who, according to him, reject the direct involvement of the population. "They have 'povofobia,' they're afraid of the people," he stated.

After the event, Boulos informed that his next agendas will take place in the 26 states and the Federal District, after his participation in COP30, in Pará, where he will travel this Sunday (9).

Sworn in on October 29th to replace Márcio Macêdo, Boulos once again criticized the recent police operation conducted by the governor of Rio de Janeiro, Cláudio Castro (PL), which he described as one of the deadliest in the country, with 121 deaths. "The governor of Rio prefers to engage in demagoguery with bloodshed, treating everyone in the community as if they were criminals. Incidentally, this is the same view held by Governor Tarcísio de Freitas and many Bolsonaro-supporting governors," he said.

Boulos concluded his speech by citing the Federal Police's actions against the PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital) as an example of confronting crime "the right way," reinforcing that the fight against violence must respect human rights and involve the community.