Representatives Chamber
Workers Party
Leadership Office
SUPPORT AND SOLIDARITY NOTE TO VICE-ADMIRAL OTHON LUIZ PINHEIRO DA SILVA
In the name of the Worker Party’s wing at the Representatives Chamber, I express my support and solidarity to Vice-Admiral R1 Othon Luiz Pinheiro da Silva, taken into custody on July 28th during the 16th stage of Operation Carwash.
Licensed director-president of Eletronuclear (subsidiary of Eletrobras), currently responsible for providing 3% of all electric power consumed in the country, Admiral Othon is a nationalist, a patriot, and has a role that is already engraved in history when it comes to Brazil’s scientific and technological development, especially in the nuclear field.
His efforts are comparable to those of Admiral Álvaro Alberto, another nationalist who paved the way for Brazil to move forward on nuclear research, going against all foreign backlash and pressure to keep our country from the achievements in this area.
Admiral Othon graduated from the Naval Academy back in 1960, and earned his degree in naval engineering at São Paulo’s Polytechnic School in 1966. In 1978, he completed his specialization course at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
He worked as director of Research and Reactors at the Nuclear Energy Research Institute (IPEN, in Portuguese), and was also founder and responsible for the program for Nuclear Fuel Development Cycle Program, and the Nuclear Powering for Submarines initiative from 1979 to 1994. From 1986 to 1994 the Vice-Admiral also acted as director at the Navy’s former Special Projects Office (COPESP), now the Navy’s Technological Center (CTMSP).
The admiral also drafted projects of nuclear ultracentrifuges for uranium enrichment, and for nuclear-powering systems for submarines. The development of the uranium ultra-centrifuging is a milestone in the history of Brazil’s technological evolution. This project placed us into the select group of nations that dominate the entire production cycle of nuclear fuel and, for this exact reason, has become object of international greed. Due to its strategic and Estate-critical nature, details of this technology are keps secret.
The Brazilian Navy is aserious institution that knows how to protect Brazil's strategic interests. the search for self-reliance in the nuclear sector fits into a greater project of developing an sovereign nation. Building a nuclear-powered submarine takes our nation to a whole new level in the eyes of the international community.
We support Admiral Othon’s enterprising spirit and rebuff any attempt at judging him prematurely – as well as judging other people taken into custody throughout Operation Carwash – based only on denouncements. We are convinced that the Vice-Admiral will prove his innocence and will keep on cooperating with Brazil’s scientific and technological evolution in a time when those nations who have a more prominent role in the global arena are precisely those who possess cutting-edge technology, nuclear included.
Vice-Admiral Othon began to stand out in Brazilian history back in the 80’s and 90’s, when he battled against the Western blocking the access of other nations to knowledge in the nuclear field. He was severely pressured and watched closely in Brazil and abroad due to his search for know-how that would give our nation a place in this global game board.
The Admiral’s arrest might be celebrated by groups against our nation that ignore the importance of sovereignty and national interests. But those who think of a prosper and sovereign Brazil, technologically self-reliant for pacific purposes, can only regret his arrest.
Our strategic project, built with Admiral Othon’s priceless cooperation, must not be attacked and harmed by anti-national agents because of Operation Carwash, which has been raising questions even from renowned jurists. There is not one judge, in any instance, who has the right to harm Estate interests – kept secret due to their critical nature – and destroy national heritage built throughout decades.
Brazil needs to move forward, and people like Vice-Admiral Othon are vital, since he, as well as other patriot scientists, is led by the Navy’s Technological Center motto: “Domestic Technology means Independence”.
Brasilia, August 5th 2015
Rep. Sibá Machado – PT/AC
Workers Party’s wing leader at the Representatives Chamber
