Report: Carlos Madeiro – Tourism industry in PE refuses to federalize Noronha and ex-minister returns

A week after the action proposed by the federal government in the STF (Supreme Federal Court), the tourist business in Pernambuco is unanimous in rejecting the idea of ​​removing the Fernando de Noronha archipelago from state administration.

Despite local government requests to improve the island, the industry believes buying Noronha from Pernambuco would be a blow to local tourism, whose islands are one of the main destinations.

The perception that the idea was rejected even reached the person who would become the “father of the idea”, Gilson Machado (PL), former Minister of Tourism and Pernambuco Senate candidate.

To the detriment of local environmental laws, he has been a proponent of the expansion of tourism in the region, but has made a video of the action’s withdrawal, ignoring the terms of the action – now rejecting any interest in federalizing Noronha (as requested by the Government in the STF). (see more below).

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Trade does not approve of federalization

According to the column, there is no support from any tourism industry in Pernambuco for the idea of ​​federalizing Noronha.

Marcelo Waked says, “It can’t be! I’m from Pernambuco, we have to fight to make sure that doesn’t happen, nobody wants to take it away from me. Nobody admits that I left the state of Pernambuco. It’s a very precious stone to us.” He is the president of Abav-PE (Brazilian Association of Travel Agencies) and a member of the Pernambuco Tourism Board and Chamber of the Tourism Industry.

According to him, since the action was recommended by the federal government, the industry has debated the idea and assures it hasn’t seen anyone backing the proposal so far.

“We spent over a week discussing this and everyone said they didn’t want it. It’s unanimous. If it did, it would be a huge failure of the state government,” he adds.

At the same time, Marcelo acknowledges that Pernambuco’s rule on the island could flourish.

“People need to know what’s going on on the island. I think this action also demands transparency,” he says.

There is a call that I have been saying for a while, referring to some of the actions that the government can and cannot do on the island. The government took the island on the condition of improving it and we saw that there was no improvement. There is no hospital there, only a health centre.
Marcelo Awakens, Abav-PE

The Pernambuco government defended itself by claiming that it invested in the archipelago, in a memo released after the action was announced to the STF. “In the last two years alone, R$20 million has been spent building houses, improving side roads, installing LED lighting and completely renovating the port,” he says.

high prices

One of the points that the industry always underlines is the cost of visiting Noronha. In this case, everything is expensive to visit the archipelago: from airfare to accommodation, including fees from tourists.

“Today, in high season there, a package costs at least R$3,000 in a simple inn, excluding fees. We really wanted a more accessible island. Upscale,” he complains.

The fees charged to visit Noronha are indeed high, but not only charged by the state government – ​​which charges an environmental protection fee of R$87.71 per day.

ICMBio (Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation) also buys a ticket to enter Fernando de Noronha National Marine Park worth R$165 for Brazilians and R$330 for foreigners. The ticket gives access to the park for 10 days and the site is managed by a company called Econoronha.

politics behind

If there are no objections from the industry, what could explain their action in the past year of office?

The main explanation lies in the dispute over Pernambuco’s seat in the Senate, which will now have former Tourism Secretary Gilson Machado.

During his time at the Ministry and at Embratur (Brazilian Agency for the International Promotion of Tourism), he visited Noronha and made it clear that he wanted to lift environmental restrictions and expand tourism activities.

For example, in 2020, in consultation with Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL), he said he wanted to untangle the knots and plan to make artificial shipwrecks and bring back ships in the Noronha Sea (something that experts have sharply criticized). (Prohibited from 2013).

Faced with the negative repercussions of the recent government action, Gilson Machado recorded a video targeting the tourist trade and said the government never wanted to remove Noronha from Pernambuco.

“The AGU acted to ensure that the state fulfilled the transfer agreement. The Union never demands the federalization of Fernando de Noronha or the political administration of the region, but the annulment of the transfer agreement signed in 2002. It has been fulfilled”, it assures.

Machado’s claim is controversial. The column had access to AGU’s action in the STF that spoke of breach of contract but suggested in its first point that “the Union fought for injunctive relief to declare its sphere of influence over Fernando”. The entire de Noronha archipelago is owned by the Federal Government and to determine the immediate fulfillment by the state of Pernambuco of all the contents of the Use Allocation Agreement in the Special Conditions of Fernando de Noronha Island”.

The idea of ​​federalizing Noronha is not new. In a live broadcast on social networks in November 2020, President Jair Bolsonaro spoke of the interest, saying that the place looks like a “friend island”, the ship cannot stop there.

Also, according to former minister Gilson Machado, the action was not voluntary but mandated by the government due to the determinations made by the MPF (Federal Department of Public Administration) and TCU (Union Court of Accounts).

“[Esses órgãos] The Union requested the Heritage Secretariat for an explanation of the default and whether the state was in a position to administer the territory. The state does not comply with and avoids the supervision of federal environmental agencies.”

“We all know that the archipelago has become the island of friends of the incumbent government, all sponsored, very inaccessible to humble people,” he says, “from Noronha, Pernambuco, but it does not deserve this neglect. State”.

For Pernambuco political scientist Elton Gomes, the idea of ​​suing the STF at this pre-campaign moment has had no judicial success, but with whom Machado will challenge the vacant Senate, in an attempt to wear out the Pernambuco government’s political group.

PSB is allied with PT and Lula and Gilson Machado handed over his Tourism portfolio to run for senator; So, this strategy is part of the wear and tear in Paulo Câmara’s government. [PSB] collection of abuse fees, restrictions preventing further receipt of tourism, etc., by the federal government. investigation of such points.
Elton Gomes, political scientist

According to him, the victory at STF would not even be positive for Machado’s marketing. “For me, the goal is not to win in court. The goal is to give Minister Machado political visibility and, if possible, to cause political damage to the local government. The action was designed for maximum political gain, not to succeed,” he concludes.