RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In front of a mostly Caucasian audience, like himself, Luciano Huck criticized the lack of diversity in the Brazilian public debate. “We are not going to fix inequality with a bunch of wealthy white people sitting in (Avenue) Faria Lima,” he stated.
“We need to discuss social mobility in Brazil. The country has already had social mobility, not anymore. Today, if you are born poor in a slum, the chance of dying poor in a slum in Brazil is tremendous,” said the host.
Wearing jeans and looking visibly more informal than the other speakers at Fórum Exame, he was the only one to receive a standing ovation during the entire program – which also included Governors João Doria (PSDB-SP) and Wilson Witzel (PSC-RJ).
Huck was one of the last to speak at the event directed at entrepreneurs and politicians.
On TV for over two decades, Huck said that he has no power or political project, but rather the project of a country.
“If we do nothing, Brazil will implode,” he said.
In the last elections, Huck considered standing as a candidate for the presidency but withdrew. Today, he says that his political performance takes place in debates and in non-partisan organizations.
“I want to contribute as much as possible to make Brazil an increasingly efficient and effective country, with less inequality,” he said.
“What I can bring as a contribution at this moment are my travels around Brazil,” he said.
Huck further said that a “political tsunami” has struck his life over the past two years.
“I had two paths: one was to continue to be a goldfish in a bowl, protected by the walls of Projac [TV Globo studio], being fed with plenty of food, doing what I do quietly – and I like it – or to plunge into the ocean and somehow contribute to making Brazil a better country in the future,” said Luciano.
Huck also claimed to have a profound knowledge of the country.
He said that he travelled to the Brazilian border in Acre by boat accompanying medical care to the riverside populations. He visited Venezuelan refugees in Roraima. He met people who inherited the poverty caused by slavery to this day – which became the subject of his program on Saturdays, and should go on air in the coming weeks.
He said he counted seven favelas on the way from the airport to his home in Rio de Janeiro, where he also visited projects in Morro do Alemão.
“Nobody told me, I saw it. I cover two, three states a week uninterruptedly, almost 52 weeks a year. I tell my children that I feel the pulse of Brazil,” the host said.
Huck further said he disagrees with the current political polarization in Brazilian society, advocates for unity and dialogue, without agreeing that political debate should become a “wrestling ring”.
The host also stated that he is not affiliated to any political party, but commented on his work with parliamentary groups such as ‘Renova’ and ‘Agora’, which defend political renewal. “The rule is ethics: it doesn’t matter what you think as long as your ethics are in the right place,” he says.
“That is where we intend to give rise to a country-wide project. It is not a political or electoral project. It’s not Luciano’s. It’s not anyone’s, it’s for anyone, it’s open source”, he says, in reference to the computer programs in which the developers contribute to the building of software.
Huck didn’t mention President Bolsonaro once in almost an hour of speech and questions.
After coming off the stage, he was surrounded and posed for selfies with fans, politicians and businessmen. He gave out autographs and left without talking to the press.