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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Brazil president faces anger over education freezes

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Paula RAMON -


Huge protests across Brazil over education spending freezes should serve as a warning to far-right President Jair Bolsonaro who faces a “perfect storm” of political crises, analysts say.


Wednesday’s nationwide demonstrations — the first since Bolsonaro took office on January 1 — came as the ultraconservative government struggles to get its signature pension reform through Congress, which is seen as crucial to kickstarting growth in Latin America’s biggest economy.


Tens of thousands of students, teachers and professors marched in “defence of education” in Brazil’s biggest cities after the government said it would suspend 30 per cent of discretionary spending for public universities in the second half of this year.


The freezing of postgraduate scholarships for students in science and humanities has also fueled anger. Bolsonaro hit back at the largely peaceful protesters. He also accused leftist militants of stoking the protests.


The government is heading “in the direction of becoming unviable,” warned Claudio Couto, a political scientist at the Getulio Vargas Foundation think-tank. “We have a paralyzed economy, more mobilized streets and loss of support in Congress: it is the perfect storm for a presidential fall in Latin America,” he said. “All we need is a scandal involving the government.”


Rising unemployment and slowing economic growth, which Bolsonaro had promised in his election campaign to reverse, have contributed to a sharp drop in his popularity in the first few months of his presidency. On the eve of the protests, Economy Minister Paulo Guedes reduced the government’s forecast for 2019 economic growth to 1.5 per cent from 2.2 per cent and urged legislators to speed up reforms, warning Brazil was “at the bottom of the well.”


Adding to Bolsonaro’s woes is growing anger over his decree last week allowing millions of Brazilians to carry loaded weapons in public, which is being challenged in Congress and the Supreme Court. “The demonstrations weaken the government, which was already weakening with internal fights,” said Couto.


The crisis over public education has reminded many Brazilians of the existence of a political opposition, which has been largely dormant since Bolsonaro was swept to power last October and ended decades of centre-left rule, said Thomaz Favaro, political analyst at Control Risks consultancy. — AFP


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