May 14, 2022

10:05

Interference in Power

In a country where inflation and unemployment reach double digits, gasoline, diesel, cooking gas, and energy have uncontrolled prices, we have a President of the Republic who devotes his time to persecute critics of his government. In his weekly live, Jair Bolsonaro, in an error, admitted political interference in the House, in a disrespect to a constitutional guarantee that is the independence of the powers. The president says he asked the president of the PL, Valdemar Costa Neto, to remove the federal lawmaker, Marcelo Ramos (PSD-AM), from the vice presidency of the House.

Lies about MFTZ

The actions and criticism of Ramos against the decrees that harm the Manaus Free Trade Zone bother Bolsonaro. But it is not only the lawmaker that he attacks. Bolsonaro attacks the truth of the facts. He shot lies about the decrees that reduce the IPI, claiming, contrary to what all business entities, economists, workers’ and political leaders say, that the measures do not affect the MFTz. The fact is that the decrees threaten the four most important industrial centers in Manaus: two-wheelers, electronics, information technology, and soft drink concentrates, which together account for more than 87,000 direct jobs.

Up his sleeve

Bolsonaro also attacked senator Omar Aziz (PSD-AM), coordinator of the Amazonas caucus in Congress. Aziz and Ramos have been the most forceful and active parliamentarians of the state in defense of the MFTz. Judging by the president’s reaction, the criticism of his government’s measures has gained echoes. About the vice-president position, Marcelo Ramos has a card up his sleeve. In December 2021, Costa Neto gave the parliamentarian a letter of consent to the disaffiliation of Ramos of the acronym, stating that his departure does not constitute party infidelity for programmatic reasons, and expressly agreeing with the maintenance of Ramos in the Board of the House.

Polarization with the Judiciary

Stuck in the polls after having already “won” with the withdrawal of Sérgio Moro from the presidential race and the effects of Auxílio Brasil, Bolsonaro uses the strategy of ignoring his opponent Lula and engaging in other clashes, which include the TSE and the STF, particularly Minister Alexandre Moraes. From the magistrate two other decisions that displeased the president: the suspension of the effects of the IPI decrees on items of the MFTZ and the injunction ensuring Marcelo Ramos in the vice-presidency of the House. A source close to Bolsonaro says that he makes “a diversionist campaign, in which he ignores Lula and seeks to polarize with the Judiciary or whoever else comes along.

Smokescreen

The president will refute, as he did in his live broadcast, every attack that comes. Even insinuating a coup is part of this diversionist strategy. In the evaluation of this interlocutor, Bolsonaro, with this, dominates the debate and the media exposure, leaving Lula practically no space to create political facts. With this smokescreen, the president diverts attention from the bad news and distracts everyone with his confusion. In the meantime, the government buys time for the economy to improve, in order to arrive more forcefully to the moment when the TV and radio campaign starts, in which Bolsonaro will have, for the first time, time to present what his administration has done. Or disguise what he has not done.