Bolsonaro and Lula government scandals become political capital

Two scandals have made headlines in Brazilian newspapers in recent days. Ironically, one involved the former president Jair Messiah Bolsonarothe other to a government minister of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Juscelino Filhocurrent Minister of Communications.

In the first case, it was a jewelry gift of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in the second of various illegal behaviorsamong them the embezzlement of public funds to pave a road where your personal property is. The two stories, although currently touching on opposing political parties, once again highlight a common theme, that of the personal use of the res publicawhich is generally the prelude to corruption, as the Lavata Jato operation clearly demonstrated, launched in 2014 by a group of magistrates from Curitiba who discovered the Pandora’s box of corruption in Brazil and which involved no less 33 parties, including Lula Workers’ Party (PT), himself convicted and detained.

Corruption and waste of public money really seems to be a scourge inherited from the time of Portuguese colonization, for which decent Brazilians today continue to pay the price, as they would expect more respect from their politicians and a return to services for the taxes they pay. As the popular saying goes when Paulo Maluf He was mayor of São Paulo in the 90s, “fly but do“, which many continue to quote today to comment on the news, disappointed by the fact that today “it’s stolen but it’s not done”.

While Bolsonaro is still in Florida, an exclusive report from the newspaper State of Sao Paulo revealed that when he was president attempted to smuggle jewelry worth $3.2 million into Brazil. It was a gift to his wife Michelle from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The episode dates back to October 26, 2021, when an adviser to the then Minister of Mines and Energy, Bento Albuquerquethe navy lieutenant Marcos Andre dos Santos Soeiro (the two were returning from Saudi Arabia together), went through customs at Guarulhos airport in São Paulo without declaring the contents of his backpack: a necklace, a ring, a watch and a pair of earrings, all set with diamonds.

However, the luggage was randomly selected to be X-rayed and the precious cargo was immediately seized by customs officers. At that time, the former minister returned to retrieve the valuables, as shown by security camera footage, but to no avail. Albuquerque later admitted that he was the one who transported the jewelry., specifying however that “as it was a sealed package, I did not know what was inside”. Since then, Bolsonaro’s entourage tried to recover the first package seized eight times, details the State of Sao Paulo, even involving the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and the Economy in “banana state” procedures, as described by journalist Eliane Cantanhêde. The last failure, on December 29, 2022, on the eve of the departure of the former president for the United States. Paolo PimentaLula’s Minister of Social Communication, associated the “gift” with the fact that “Petrobras had just sold a refinery for 1.8 billion dollars to a Saudi group”.

there would also be another valuable item pack which includes a pen, a ring, a watch and cufflinks, which according to CNN Brazil Bolsonaro admitted having placed it in his personal file. A magistrate of the Court of Accounts of the Union (TCU) prohibited the former president from using or selling this jewellery. In the coming weeks, we will know how this story will end and if Bolsonaro can be denounced. However, despite the scandal, his Liberal Party is not giving up and is now betting on Michelle as a possible candidate in the next elections, no doubt imagining that Brazilian voters have little interest in ethical questions.

After all, even Lula, as revealed by the news portal Power 360returned only 9 of the 568 gifts received from foreign heads of state, according to TCU data in 2016. In addition, one of the ministers of his government, that of Communication, Juscelino Filho, has sparked controversy in recent days. according to the newspaper Statethe so-called minister did not declare equestrian assets for 2.2 million reais, approximately $450,000 in the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE) last year, when he ran for and won the seat of Federal Deputy for Maranhao State.

To this is added the Brazilian Air Force aircraft use (FAB) to attend a horse auction in São Paulo when he was already a minister, and the use of more than 5 million reais, almost a million dollars, from the so-called secret budget, ie parliamentary amendments to pave the highway Where is your farm located? Juscelino Filho He denied all the charges, calling them “distorted attacks”. Despite pressure from the president of the PT, Hoffmann’s blues, to make him resign, Lula finally decided to keep him in his post after meeting him. He preferred his political capital to ethics. Indeed, Juscelino belongs to the Unión Brasil party, in the same way as the former judge Lava Jato Sergio Moro, which has 11 senators and 59 deputies, a crucial number of votes for the governability of Lula, in particular with a view to voting for two reforms. crucial, taxation and tributary.

Lula also runs the risk of losing the support of part of his party. The more moderate wing did not take kindly to the aggressive foreign policy of these first two months of government, which led Brazil to strengthen its relations with regimes such as Iran, Venezuela and Nicaragua, justifying this new course as an expression of Brazil’s “sovereignty” and Lula’s willingness to mediate in international geopolitical issues of great importance. However, his government’s hesitation when it came to condemning at the UN Human Rights Council the grave violations committed by dictator Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua – Brazil did not sign the declaration of 54 country against the Sandinista regime – have created a debate not only in the Latin American Giant, but also within the PT. The president of the party leadership in Rio de Janeiro, Alberto Cantalice, harshly attacked Ortega and Maduro, calling them “apprentices of the dictator”.

This week the head of the special secretariat of the presidency of the republic, Celso Amorimwho has always been Lula’s compass in matters of foreign policy, visited the President of Venezuela, Nicola Madurowho commented on the meeting saying that Venezuela and Brazil are “committed to renewing the agreements of union and solidarity that guarantee growth and prosperity”.

In an interview with the Brazilian newspaper Log, Amorim said that in Venezuela “everyone has expressed their desire to have competitive elections. It’s a real expectation. In 20 years of relationship with the country, I had never seen such a favorable climate for democracy”.

Diplomatic sources revealed by the newspaper The globe revealed that the Venezuelan Vice Minister for Latin America, Rander Pena Ramirez, arrived Friday in Brasilia on an official visit accompanied by a delegation to discuss cooperation in health and humanitarian matters. Also on the agenda was the situation of yanomami who live on the border between the two countries. It should be remembered that the Maduro government has been repeatedly accused by international environmental organizations for its aggressive policies of exploitation of the Amazon, in addition to the continuous destruction of the mining arc of the Orinoco for years.

While political capital is essential to Lula’s governability, downplaying criticism of his foreign policy and illegal acts by members of his government in the long term could cost him dearly, among other things because his government continues without clearly disclosing what the direction will be. economic. who will guide the country.

In recent hours, Lula’s statements that the “economy ministers” will have to “pull themselves together” to find funds for his government to invest in infrastructure and that Fernando Haddad has been appointed economy minister because it is “creative” created confusion in the market and caused the strengthening of the dollar against the real. But above all alerted the publicwhich has so far only seen rising inflation, in February by 0.84%, and the economy slowing down: in January Brazil generated barely 83,300 jobs, a drop of 50.2% compared to the same month last year.

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