RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Rio Grande do Sul is considered one of Brazil’s most Bolsonarist states. In 2018, President Jair Bolsonaro won in 407 of the state’s 497 cities in the 2nd round of elections, securing 63.24% of valid votes.
Support for the president remains high, even as the pandemic worsens.
The local business community argues that Bolsonaro is yet another victim of the coronavirus. He does what he can in favor of Rio Grande do Sul and the country.
“The federal government was the only one with positive and proactive actions in relation to entrepreneurs and the population. For example, it did the Pronampe,” says Paulo Afonso Pereira, businessman and president of the Porto Alegre Trade Association. The mentioned program released low-interest credit for micro and small businesses in 2020 and has not yet been reintroduced in the pandemic’s current, more critical phase.
According to Pereira, state and municipal governments failed to implement any beneficial measures – even though the Rio Grande do Sul government, for example, also created credit lines for small businesses in 2020 and 2021.
Many entrepreneurs share Ferreira’s opinion. Most also disagree with the criticism of the president that is common in other parts of Brazil.
They do not perceive Bolsonaro as a denialist to the effects of Covid-19 nor do they consider the federal government’s vaccine purchase policy inadequate. For them, the election campaign mottos from before the pandemic are still valid.
“In the vaccine issue, it is no good just saying ‘we have to have it’. Not all laboratories have the product available. Even Canada complained about this. Many people are talking about what they don’t know”, says Gilberto Petry, president of Fiergs (Federation of Industries of the State of Rio Grande do Sul).
Petry also says that Bolsonaro suffers from the pandemic’s political polarization and states that nothing said against the president so far shakes the trust they place in him. “Business people are always going to be in favor of a president who came in to fight corruption and end what was there before,” he says.
What “was there before,” and they don’t want back, is the left-wing Worker’s Party PT. Anti-PT is ingrained in the Rio Grande do Sul business world and helps strengthen the pro-Bolsonaro position.
“Entrepreneurs defend what is best for business. They supported Bolsonaro because they thought he was ‘less bad,’ and to prevent the return of the PT,” says Marcelo Lauxen Kehl, businessman and president in the Commercial, Industrial and Services Association of Novo Hamburgo, Campo Bom and Estância Velha.
And, according to him, the support has been reciprocated by the president, especially in the pandemic: “In economic terms, the federal government acted very positively last year, with measures such as emergency aid, plus the reduction and suspension of working hours.”
The polarization even bothers some businessmen. José Roberto Pires Weber, cattle breeder and president of the Rural Union of Dom Pedrito, is one of its critics.
Weber, who has already been president of the Brazilian Association of Angus, says that the fight between right and left leaves everyone powerless.
“That discourse prevails: if Bolsonaro is in favor, I am against, and vice versa. But that’s not how life works, not in that absurd dichotomy,” he says. “We get preoccupied with the fight and don’t take care of Brazil.”
But the complaint stops there. Agribusiness represents 48.5% of Rio Grande do Sul’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product), and rural producers are on whatever side Bolsonarism is on.
“Agro is on Bolsonaro’s side. Tereza Cristina has been an excellent minister [of Agriculture], and all of this makes agro stronger on the side it has chosen. Agro doesn’t look kindly on the STF [Supreme Court] and Congress. It’s not so much for the decisions, but for the lack of conviction and maintenance of decisions,” says Weber.
Another argument in favor of Bolsonaro in the state is based on the Federal Supreme Court (STF) decision that recognized states and municipalities’ competence to adopt local measures to fight the pandemic.
This decision is perceived as a limitation to the president’s initiatives. Entrepreneurs from Rio Grande do Sul do not believe that the Supreme Court has established this determination after states and municipalities were concerned about the federal government’s delay in adopting measures against the transmission of the virus.
“I think that it is a little limited in the way it is conducted at the federal level, especially because of difficulties in the legal aspect. The decision of the STF affects aspects of management of government actions. It is a shame”, says Claudio Goldsztein, president of the Cultural Floresta Institute.
Entrepreneurs founded the organization to contribute to the development of Rio Grande do Sul, especially in security and education, says Goldsztein.
Serra Gaúcha is one of the areas where Bolsonarism is deeply rooted. In the region, where there are industrial centers and tourist cities, Bolsonaro was elected with more than 80% of some cities’ votes, such as Gramado.
Early treatment with kit-Covid, with no proven effectiveness, and opposition to distancing measures, flags of the president, are also advocated in this region.
The last month in the mountains was especially tense and marked by tourism sector entrepreneurs’ demonstrations against trade restrictions.
From there even a request for the impeachment of Governor Eduardo Leite (PSDB-RS). The impeachment is supported by deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PSL-SP), who spoke out against the governor’s measures to fight the coronavirus.
In a protest in late March, local entrepreneurs held up signs reading “tourism is not the villain”. Store owners went out on foot and by car to gather at the border between Gramado and Canela. A banner calling for military intervention was hung on one of the porticos of tourist city Gramado.
The business community demanded the relaxation of state sanitary measures. Tourist parks and hotels had their traffic restricted for weeks at a time, and restaurants could not open on weekends. Those that serve fondue, and usually only open at night, stopped operating.
At the end of March, about 40 food and beverage representatives from the region held a meeting to discuss ways out of the crisis. Due to the concentration of people, the Military Police and the inspectors intervened on the spot. Tempers became heated and the businessmen reacted by saying that if the police arrested someone, they would have to take everyone away.
In videos of the meeting that circulated on social networks, the entrepreneurs took a stand. They turned against the public sector, saying that civil servants have fixed monthly salaries, but that the private sector only earns if it works. They reinforced that restaurants are safe places with the adoption of protocols. They also said that the Constitution guarantees freedom to work.
“Who is in trouble is the private sector, who works, who generates jobs, who is employed by the private sector. The public area gets money every month,” said businessman Gilberto Tomasini, from the restaurant sector, in one of the videos that circulated.
Attorney Victor Spier, who signed the request for Leite’s removal, says that the motion had the support of more than 1,100 entrepreneurs from Serra Gaucha.
“I believe that about 90% of Gramado and Canela’s revenue comes from tourism,” Spier says. “Rents are very expensive, the closure caused great damage, with many restaurants closing their activities because there was no relaxation of the measures decreed by the state.”
And the attorney offers yet another reason why the president has support. “By preventing the operation of establishments and damaging the finances of business owners, the governor extrapolated,” he says. “Here 99% are for Bolsonaro because he wants businesses to open.”