Ricardo de Aquino Salles

Ricardo Salles (August 2019)

Ricardo de Aquino Salles (born June 8, 1975 in São Paulo ) is a Brazilian politician. He was Brazil's Environment Minister in the Bolsonaro cabinet from January 1, 2019 until his resignation on June 23, 2021 . Salles was a member of various parties or ran for them. From 2018 to 2020 he was a member of the right-wing liberal Partido Novo (NOVO).

training

Ricardo de Aquino Salles studied law at Mackenzie Presbyterian University in his hometown and graduated with a law degree . Postgraduate studies followed at the University of Coimbra and the University of Lisbon . He also studied business administration at the private Fundação Getúlio Vargas . For years it was made public that he had a degree from Yale University . In 2019, Salles stated that this information was incorrect and had been spread by a consultant.

Salles also completed training at various US think tanks , including the ultra-conservative Leadership Institute , which is committed to training a future conservative political elite and pursues a political agenda against left movements and against environmental and climate protection . Among other things, it also regularly finances energy and climate conferences of the Heartland Institute . He is considered to be well networked with both industry and various think tanks and met with the right-wing US think tank Competitive Enterprise Institute right before the 2019 UN climate summit . He is also a member of the Atlas Network .

politics

Unsuccessful candidacies

In 2006 Salles ran as a member of the economically liberal and conservative party PFL for the parliament of the state of São Paulo , but received only 0.05 percent of the vote. In 2010 there was another candidacy for the party, which has now become the Democratas ; again he failed. With four friends, Salles founded the conservative think tank Movimento Endireita Brasil (MEB) in 2006 . In its declaration of principle, the MEB committed itself to economic liberal positions and advocated a shrinking of the state. Salles also made a name for himself as an opponent of abortion and an advocate of the death penalty .

Private Secretary to the Governor of São Paulo

In early 2013, the governor of the state of São Paulo, Geraldo Alckmin , appointed Ricardo Salles as private secretary. This led to resentment in Alckmin's party, the social democratic PSDB . In 2016 he was sworn in as the State Environment Minister of São Paulo. In the 25 national parks, Salles sought “a balance between economic profitability and environmental protection”.

In 2018 Salles joined the economically liberal Partido Novo (NOVO) founded in 2011 and ran unsuccessfully in the federal elections. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro appointed Salles to his cabinet on January 1, 2019 . The appointment provoked criticism from former Brazilian environment ministers and, among others, from Greenpeace . Due to joining the Bolsonaro cabinet, Salles was excluded from the Partido Novo in 2020.

Environment Minister

Salles is a climate change denier and, as environment minister, pursued an economically liberal policy in the field of nature and resource protection. Shortly after taking office, Salles criticized the international Amazon fund for forest and climate protection . The fund is managed by the Development Bank of Brazil (BNDES) , runs from 2010 to 2021 and supports projects of the Amazonian states, environmental authorities, research institutions, civil society organizations and indigenous peoples to better protect the Amazon . The aim of the fund is, inter alia, fight illegal deforestation and promote the sustainable use of the rainforest . In addition to Norway as the largest donor (1.2 billion dollars , 94 percent of the total volume), Germany provided 55 million euros (5 percent) through 2019 through the Reconstruction Loan Corporation (KfW). Salles and his Ministry of the Environment (MMA) wanted to compensate landowners in protected areas financially. Germany and Norway speak out against it and want to retain the existing structures and funding conditions of the fund.

After the forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest during his tenure, Salles told the Financial Times in August 2019 that the solution to the problem would be to “ monetize ” the rainforest. The rules for the protection of the forest that have been drawn up in the last ten to twenty years are too strict and inflexible. They would prevent development. While the German Development Minister Gerd Müller (CSU) wanted to hold onto the Amazon Fund after the forest fire developed in August 2019 , Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) said her ministry would stop funding from her house of 35 million euros for the reforestation of the rainforest and the protection of biodiversity .

On April 22nd, 2020 Ricardo Salles said in a cabinet meeting: “We now have the opportunity, since the press is exclusively concerned with Covid-19, to deal with the topic of the Amazon. At this moment we have the opportunity to change all regulations and simplify the regulations. "

After the former federal police chief of the state of Amazonas, Alexandre Saraiva, filed a lawsuit against Salles, in which he alleged that he had obstructed investigations that had led to the largest seizure of illegal timber in Brazil so far, the Brazilian Supreme Court opened in June 2021 Preliminary investigation. Salles are accused of advocacy in office, obstructing the environmental inspection, and obstructing the investigation of a crime involving a criminal organization. The Brazilian federal police are also investigating Salles on allegations that he used his position to weaken the controls on wood exports by IBAMA , the country's environmental agency . Salles denies any wrongdoing, but resigned on June 23, 2021. His successor was Joaquim Álvaro Pereira Leite .

Web links

Commons : Ricardo de Aquino Salles  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Quem inventou a mentira de que o ministro Ricardo Salles estudou em Yale? The Intercept Brasil, February 23, 2019.
2. ↑ Susanne Götze , Annika Joeres : The climate pollution lobby . How politicians and business leaders sell the future of our planet . Munich 2020, p. 113f.
3. ↑ Apuração - São Paulo - Deputado Federal. Folha de S. Paulo , November 9, 2006, accessed June 24, 2021.
4. ↑ Jovens de São Paulo fundam grupo para "endireitar" o país. Folha de S. Paulo, March 14, 2011, accessed June 24, 2021.
5. ↑ Quem é Ricardo Salles, confirmado por Bolsonaro para o ministério do Meio Ambiente. GZH, December 9, 2018.
6. ↑ Aliados querem que Alckmin DeMita Secretário. Folha de S. Paulo, April 15, 2013, accessed June 24, 2021.
7. ↑ Parques estaduais de São Paulo estão em lista de concessão para empresas. Folha de S. Paulo, February 9, 2017, accessed June 24, 2021.
8. ↑ Ricardo Salles. todapolitica.com, accessed June 24, 2021.
9. ↑ Posicionamento do Greenpeace sobre nomeação de Ricardo Salles para ministro do Meio Ambiente. Greenpeace, December 9, 2018.
10. ^ Comissão de Ética do partido Novo decide pela expulsão do ministro Ricardo Salles. Globo, May 7, 2020.
11. ↑ Susanne Götze , Annika Joeres : The climate pollution lobby . How politicians and business leaders sell the future of our planet . Munich 2020, p. 112f.
12. ↑ Amazon Fund for Forest and Climate Protection. giz, accessed on August 27, 2019 . 
13. ^ Federal Development Minister Müller on a trip to Brazil. jmarinko, July 13, 2019, accessed August 27, 2019 . 
14. ↑ Drake Baer: Brazil's environment minister just said the solution to wildfires - and possible climate catastrophe - is to 'monetize' the Amazon. In: Business Insider. Accessed June 6, 2020 . 
15. ↑ Carl Moses, Gustav Theile: Because of rainforest deforestation: Norway stops payments for Amazon funds . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed August 27, 2019]).
16. ↑ Joachim Wille: Corona as a chainsaw. In: Klimareporter.de. May 26, 2020, accessed May 28, 2020 . 
17. ^ Daniel Carvalho, Ricardo Della Coletta: Ricardo Salles, ministro do Meio Ambiente, pede demissão. Salles é alvo de inquérito no STF (Supremo Tribunal Federal) por operação da Polícia Federal que mira suposto favorecimento a empresários do setor de madeiras. In: Folha de S. Paulo , June 23, 2021, accessed June 24, 2021.
18. ↑ Rodrigo Pedroso, Jessie Yeung: Brazilian environment minister resigns amid illegal logging probe. In: cnn.com. CNN, June 24, 2021, accessed June 24, 2021 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
Edson Duarte	Environment Minister (Secretaria do Meio Ambiente da Presidência da República) January 1, 2019 - June 23, 2021	Joaquim Álvaro Pereira Leite