Brazil's interim president calls for "national reunification"

Brazil's interim President Michel Temer on Monday called for "national reunification" so that the South American country can once again create jobs.

"Brazil needs national pacification, national reunification, with an interaction between entrepreneurs and workers. This is the first social program that should be addressed," Temer said during an agricultural conference in the southeastern state of Sao Paulo, his first official visit to his hometown since becoming interim president.

"I confess that I took charge of Brazil at a difficult time. Everyone knows how many difficulties we have faced but, God helped us and we have assembled an economic team, which I believe has not been seen in Brazil for some time," he said.

Temer highlighted to agro-business people and specialists that Brazil now has "an Agriculture Minister acclaimed by everyone," alluding to Blairo Maggi, known as "the king of soy" due to his business in the sector.

Acknowledging the importance of agriculture in Brazil's economy, he said it was the only sector to have positive economic results in 2015, despite the 3.8 percent contraction in gross domestic product (GDP).

"To recover jobs, industry and agroindustry need to grow as well as trade," said Temer, adding "I can say, without fear of being wrong, that I owe my current position as interim president to Brazil's agriculture."

He said farming allowed his parents, Lebanese migrants, to settle in the city of Tiete inside the state of Sao Paulo and provide higher education to their children.

Temer also said that after August he would travel to several countries to promote foreign investment in Brazil.

However, despite Temer's pledge to create and recover more jobs, a hundred Rio de Janeiro police officers on Monday protested in the international airport, demanding a solution to the precarious labor and economic situation they are currently experiencing, one month before the Olympic Games 2016.

The protesters knelt down and sang the national anthem with their hands on their heads, in a sign of protest, and they filled the lobby with banners and posters.

The officers also brought dolls dressed as police but stained in red, a reference to the 50 officers that have died so far in the state this year.

"It isn't just the salary. We are lacking proper hygiene, dignity, working conditions," Fabio Neira, president of the Civilian Police Federation, told local media.

Rio de Janeiro's police began a series of protests a few weeks ago in order to complain about the precarious situation they are in, with delayed salaries due to the regional government's difficult economic situation which has been badly affected by the fall in crude oil prices.

The police have threatened to go on strike during the Olympic Games, which start on Aug. 5, if the situation does not improve. Enditem