Analysis: Presidential silence endorses action by Bolsonarist groups

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – While working on good relation agreements with leaders of the Judiciary and Congress, President Jair Bolsonaro remains silent about the actions of extremists from his political base.

Last week, he kept his distance from Daniel Silveira, a PSL deputy from Rio de Janeiro who who attacked Federal Supreme Court (STF) justices, and failed to halt the anti-democratic behavior of his loyal supporters.

The strategy to hold his ideological wing together was rigorously pursued. Bolsonaro’s silence was not matched on social networks and in Congress by his “army”, over which he has full influence.

Even with the Chamber of Deputies upholding Silveira’s arrest, deputies who ascended to prominence thanks to Bolsonaro and are part of the president’s hard core attacked the Supreme Court in reaction to Justice Alexandre de Moraes’ order to arrest the deputy in flagrante delicto.

Carlos Jordy (PSL-RJ) called Moraes a “thug” and demanded a position from the Chamber leadership against the STF’s “dictators”. Otoni de Paula (PSC-RJ) called for right-wing mobilizations against the “robe dictatorship”. Alê Silva (PSL-MG) said that the Supreme Court contradicts itself because it “almost dies from a heart attack” when someone refers to Institutional Act No. 5 and “is not embarrassed” when using a law from the same period to enforce imprisonment. Eduardo Bolsonaro (PSL-SP), the president’s son, stood up for the arrested deputy in the name of “freedom of speech.”

Jair Bolsonaro ignored the crisis involving his ally throughout the week. In his live stream on Thursday from the Alvorada Palace, he spoke for about an hour. Between the threat to the CEO of Petrobras and a few other pleasantries, he disregarded the subject. He did not publicly argue in favor of Silveira against the STF, but neither did he direct his most radical base not to do so.

In the session in which the Chamber upheld Silveira’s imprisonment, deputies from the Centrão, the new bastion of the ruling camp, abandoned the deputy and voted to keep him in prison. Most statements in the deputy’s defense came from the same ideological base that continues to wish to strangle the Supreme Court.

Tactic

Throughout 11 terms as a federal deputy, ex-legislator Miro Teixeira became prominent in the country’s democratic period after the end of the military dictatortship. He categorizes Daniel Silveira as a soldier who strictly follows the political tactics sponsored by the president. “In war theory, there are tactical and strategic moves. Tactics are for the moment, preparation to achieve the strategic target. I think this deputy made a tactical move within Bolsonaro’s strategy of hardening his stance towards the other government branches.”

Bolsonaro avoided clashing with the other side of the Three Powers Square. In turn, his ideological base has also not demanded a reaction from the president, because it understands that, at this moment of overlapping crises, Bolsonaro’s support for Daniel Silveira would place impeachment back on the agenda.

Deputy Carla Zambelli (PSL-SP), also under investigation in the fake news inquiry, said she did not call for the intervention of the head of the Planalto to free her party colleague. “Ultimately, the president did what you people in the press always want him to do. When he speaks, he is criticized. When he keeps silent is he going to be criticized too?”

Example

Among moderate pro-government officials, it is the president’s ambiguous stance and conflicting profile that encourage people like Daniel Silveira. There is a parallel in the trajectory of both. At 38 years of age, Silveira is in his first mandate. He is distant from debates on the major national issues and his performance is limited to creating controversy.

In 1993, Bolsonaro was the same age. He was serving his first term in the Chamber, for the former PDC party, and also prioritized polemics. In an interview to The New York Times, published in June that year, he advocated the return of the military dictatorship and said that only the discipline of the barracks could pull the country out of the mud. This was only eight years after Brazil had overcome 21 years of dictatorial regime. In 1999, Bolsonaro went on TV to support the execution by firing squad of Fernando Henrique Cardoso, boasting about tax evasion, despising the power of the vote, calling for the closure of Congress, and saying that the country needed a civil war.

The content of his statements even led the Chamber, headed at the time by Michel Temer, to debate the possibility of voting him out. The outcome was different from what is reserved for Daniel Silveira. Bolsonaro was consolidated as someone who supports torture and dictatorship uncensored. And from a low-ranking deputy with little influence, he ascended to the Presidency of the Republic.

Bolsonaro popularized in the public debate low-level statements. Even in earlier times of greater tension, the terms used in public disagreements did not typically degenerate into gratuitous insults. In February 1988, the president of the Constituent Assembly, Ulysses Guimarães, resorted to comics to criticize the owners of power. In reaction to pressure from the barracks against the work of the Constituent Assembly, Ulysses called the members of the 1969 Military Junta “the three stooges.”

Ulysses’ criticism was directed at the ex-ministers of the Army, the Navy, and the Air force. The remark triggered a crisis among the Armed Forces, government and Parliament, but without resorting to cheap shots. “It was a reaction from Ulysses, who championed democracy, against dictators. They were harsh words, but publishable,” recalls legislator Teixeira.

At the time, there was speculation from the military and the government itself to “neutralize” the Constituent Assembly. “Doctor” Ulysses intended to promulgate the Constitution, replacing the one passed by the Military Junta in 1969, on April 21st, 1988. The promulgation occurred on October 5th.

Source: Estadão Conteúdo

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