Rodrigo Neves: "Rio has to be a federal city"

Rio Já - Rodrigo Neves spent a year in Coimbra, Portugal, where he earned a master's degree in sociology, consolidated some long-held ideas – such as the imperative of full-time education – and added some new ideas to his repertoire as a pre-candidate for governor of the state from the PDT party – such as transforming Rio de Janeiro into the headquarters of a large industrial complex for the production of medicines, supplies, and health equipment.

This wasn't the only idea that the former mayor of Niterói, protagonist of a widely praised administration, brought back from his European "research." He found that important countries, such as Germany, apply a concept he calls "capitality" to cities that, even if they are not the administrative headquarters of central governments, have sufficient importance to absorb federal functions. Rodrigo Neves, for obvious historical and cultural reasons, says he will fight alongside the future president of the Republic to have Rio officially recognized as a federal city and become the headquarters of relevant ministries, such as Defense, Mines and Energy, Culture, and Tourism. See the interview given to Ricardo Bruno and Washington Quaquá:

Ricardo Bruno – You were successful in managing Niterói, but Niterói is a city of 400 to 500 inhabitants. A city with a high HDI (Human Development Index). How do you transplant this success to an area with such a volatile territory as Rio de Janeiro?

Rodrigo Neves – I took over Niterói in a context of many difficulties and a very serious crisis. Public services were disorganized, salaries were delayed, and there was a short-term debt equivalent to ten years of the investment budget. The city lacked confidence in its future and had no projects. But eight years later, I handed over a completely recovered city. My government, despite the very serious crisis in Brazil and Rio, made an extremely positive fiscal management effort. I eliminated the net debt, including paying off the debts of my predecessors, and handed over the position to my friend Axel Grael with more than R$ 1,5 billion in the treasury. I delivered a city with a strategic plan, called 'The Niterói We Want', with a 20-year perspective. I am convinced that this successful experience in a city that was experiencing a deep crisis is a very important reference for the reconstruction of the state of Rio. I am clear about the reasons for the state's crisis and what needs to be done.

Washington Quaquá – Your administration has a distinctive mark: walking through the northern zone of Niterói and the favelas, one can see that investments have been made. Tell us a little about that, about the treatment of Niterói as seen in postcards and Niterói with its social and urban problems.

Rodrigo Neves – It is fundamental to invest heavily in public policies that guarantee the integrated development of the entire territory and the possibility for people to have a dignified life. I have extraordinary pride, as the son of a teacher, married to an educator, and as a sociologist, in having been the mayor who built the most schools in the history of Niterói. In each region of Niterói's periphery, we implemented public facilities that contributed to restoring self-esteem and a sense of belonging to that territory. But we need to truly understand the causes of Rio's crisis. I see a huge misunderstanding in this debate. When a serious problem is identified, which is the control of the territory by militias and drug traffickers, a grave error is made in the diagnosis of this crisis, insofar as this serious problem is understood as the cause of Rio's crisis and not as a consequence.

Ricardo Bruno – Are you referring to Marcelo Freixo, in his analysis of the current situation in Rio…?

Rodrigo Neves – When we start from a flawed premise, we end up presenting flawed solutions. To imagine that with the election the next day, as if by magic, this serious problem will be solved, is actually repeating the mistakes of the past, when someone took office and said they would solve the security problem in six months. Rio de Janeiro truly needs to be rebuilt as a state. For 200 years, the city of Rio was a political and administrative reference point for Brazil, despite the transfer of the capital to Brasília more than 60 years ago. This change meant a loss of prestige, profound depopulation, and great disorganization. Then came the authoritarian merger, in the 70s, without prior planning, of Guanabara with the former Fluminense province. In the last 35 years, Rio has lost 35% of its share of the Brazilian GDP. This is the largest proportional loss of a Brazilian state in relation to GDP. Rio was the second state in manufacturing jobs, and today it is seventh. Rio had 600 industrial jobs; today we have 300. In the last five years, since the coup against President Dilma and the implementation of a devastating agenda for labor rights, Rio has lost 700 formal jobs. Today, more than 60% of Rio's workforce is either unemployed or working informally.

Ricardo Bruno – What is the reason for all this?

Rodrigo Neves – The problem stems from the absence of a development plan that truly addresses the root causes of Rio's crisis, coupled with a lack of leadership and a functioning state government. In recent years, we've had an inefficient state government lacking a plan and incapable of motivating the active forces of society to overcome the crisis. The other day I went to Nova Friburgo and there it was, a landslide that had been there for over two years, blocking the road that carries agricultural production from that region, which is also a tourist area. In two years I built a tunnel in Niterói, connecting the two most prosperous regions of the city! How can this landslide have been there for two years? The Port of Açu, a strategically important project for the state's economy, still doesn't even have its logistics developed because the government was unable to build a 40km road to improve access to the site. 

Washington Quaquá – You were a direct victim of persecution by an authoritarian state. Don't you think that the issue of restoring democracy is essential for the reconstruction of Rio de Janeiro? 

Rodrigo Neves – I have no doubt that combating corruption and ensuring government transparency are fundamental. We did this in Niterói. But what we saw is that an important cause, the fight against corruption, was completely distorted, usurped by a vision of attacking democracy, within democracy. With the violation of the democratic rule of law, violence against due process. What happened to me was very serious. Everyone interviewed said they never dealt with anything wrong with me. And then they pick a person from Resende, who has no connection to Niterói, who says nothing about me, but who says that 'it could be', from 'hearsay', and that was enough for them. The COAF (Council for Financial Activities Control) was consulted and said that my case was simple. The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office said in an official letter that there was no evidence against me. But the persecutors lied. They said my wife owned a company we had never heard of, and three months later they apologized, saying it was a mistake. But this, in fact, was the basis of the entire accusation. I was kidnapped from my home on December 10, 2018. What happened to me was reversed by a 6-1 decision in a panel. But my imprisonment was illegal, arbitrary, and infamous. I have no doubt that it is fundamental that we restore an environment of respect for democracy and due process.

Ricardo Bruno – Your calling card in this election is your administration of Niterói. But beyond that, what kind of project, what objective, do you have for the state of Rio de Janeiro? What kind of Rio de Janeiro do you want to offer its people?

Rodrigo Neves – Rio needs a medium- and long-term strategic plan. Rio needs a development project that addresses the root causes of its crisis. We need to get Rio's business, political, and intellectual elite to dedicate themselves more to thinking about the development of our territory, our productive forces, and our economy. But we cannot ignore our 'capital status,' which persists, in relation to Brazil. We need a profound restructuring of the state of Rio, equipping it with a functioning government, a government with results-oriented management, a government with a very strong integrity plan to combat the occupation of parts of the state by organized crime. We have homework to do. We need to integrate the territory of almost 40 square kilometers, looking at the interior, and looking very specifically at the metropolitan region of Rio, which corresponds to 20% of the territory but has almost 80% of the population. We need to recover the status of the city of Rio as a federal city, and I advocate that this be agreed upon in the National Congress, starting with the new president of the Republic. Rio has more federal civil servants than Brasília. Just as emerging countries like South Africa, China, Russia, and other developed countries like Germany have worked on other dimensions of 'capitalism' beyond the official capital of those countries, Rio needs to have the status of a 'federal city,' with the presence of government agencies and ministries here. This is the case with the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Mines and Energy, and the Ministry of Defense, which should be transferred to Rio, based on this characterization of Rio as a 'federal city.' Now, this needs to translate into concrete public policies. We need to obsessively focus on reversing the economic decline of Rio, generating jobs and income. This is my absolute priority. It's a fallacy to imagine that we will reverse the dominance of the territory by parallel power structures with the degree of informality that exists in the labor market.

Ricardo Bruno – But isn't this a national issue? Can it be resolved by the state government?

Rodrigo Neves – Of course it's possible. I'll give you an example. Due to this scenario of intermittent pandemics, countries around the world are reorganizing their healthcare systems. Nobody wants to depend on China anymore to import medicines, equipment, and vaccine supplies. Europe is doing it. The United States too. Which state in Brazil can lead the structuring of an industrial and service complex in the healthcare sector, with the potential to generate thousands of jobs and attract significant private and public investment? It's the state of Rio. We have Fiocruz, we have the universities. The two largest private healthcare groups in Brazil, Rede Dor and the former Amil network, are headquartered here in Rio. We need to build a convergence of state action with the university and the private sector. And from that, consolidate Rio as the main hub of the country's industrial healthcare service complex. This is a central issue. But we need a state that functions and acts as a catalyst. The Vital Brazil Institute, which is a kind of Butantan Institute of Rio de Janeiro, is dilapidated, destroyed by lack of investment. For many years there hasn't even been a competition for researchers or scientists.

Ricardo Bruno – And what about the issue of oil and gas?

Rodrigo Neves – It's unacceptable that Rio de Janeiro produces over 80% of Brazilian oil, yet more than 80% of Petrobras' contracts and the oil and gas production chain are executed outside of Rio de Janeiro and in other countries. We have a strong metal-mechanical hub in southern Rio de Janeiro state, a strong metal-mechanical hub in the Friburgo region, and yet they are not being utilized by the oil and gas sector because the contracts are executed outside of Rio.

Another thing: Rio de Janeiro is one of the states that produces the most scientists, researchers, masters, and doctoral graduates in Brazil. These are the brilliant minds for the knowledge age, but they leave in search of better jobs. The current Secretary of Science and Technology understands nothing about Science and Technology. His department needs to manage state universities well, such as UERJ, which must be placed on a strategic level. The university has a fundamental role in the 21st century, in the knowledge society. 

Finally, a fundamental area that is completely neglected by the current state government, and even more so by the federal government, is culture, entertainment, and tourism. Rio de Janeiro is the country's great cultural reference point. The greatest Brazilian artists are here. Rio has extraordinary potential in this area. How is that possible? We went from 2001, when Ancine was created by FHC, to 2020, falling from 60% of Brazilian audiovisual production to only 8%. And Rio has the two main audiovisual hubs in Brazil, Projac and the Record film and video hub! And it has a good portion of the artists, the beauty, the natural scenery like Maricá, Niterói, the capital, the Lakes Region, extraordinary landscapes for audiovisual production. But it has lost its leading role. A large part of Brazilian audiovisual production has moved to São Paulo.

But I believe. I strongly believe that from 2023 onwards, Brazil will replace this authoritarian, backward agenda, which tragically disregarded life and science throughout the pandemic, with a developmental agenda committed to democracy, income distribution, and the reduction of social inequalities. This is an opportunity for Rio.

Ricardo Bruno – He talks about his biggest dream as governor.

Rodrigo Neves – Just as Ciro Gomes talks about removing people from the SPC (credit bureau) and just as President Lula says that, if he returns to the presidency, he will guarantee that all Brazilians have three meals a day, I have a great objective. And here, I remember the centenary of that great warrior of the Brazilian people, Leonel Brizola, who, with Darcy Ribeiro, built the best educational concept in the history of Brazil: the CIEPs (Integrated Centers for Public Education). Another important obsession I will have is to achieve, in an eight-year government cycle, by mobilizing mayors, universities, and civil society, a great transformation in Rio de Janeiro: guaranteeing that all our children and young people are in full-time education, starting this process from 2023. Education is the most important public policy to reduce inequalities and promote the sustainable overcoming of poverty. I spent a year in Coimbra and was impressed: 90% of the schools are public schools. The son of a company owner studies in the same classroom as the son of an employee of that company. And it's a quality school, all full-time. 

Ricardo Bruno – How do you see the situation of urban mobility in the state?

Rodrigo Neves – It's dramatic. It steals time from people's lives and their health. I'm talking especially about the extremely poor quality of transportation in the metropolitan region, between the Baixada Fluminense and the capital, between the West Zone of the capital and the South Zone. The Belford Roxo train stops running frequently because the wiring has been disconnected or broken. It's unacceptable that such an important issue for quality of life is treated this way. A worker leaving the Baixada Fluminense, from the West Zone, now takes two and a half hours to reach the South Zone of Rio, and two and a half to three hours to return home, in the Baixada Fluminense, in São Gonçalo, in the West Zone. How can this issue be so neglected on the current priority agenda?