Flavio Dino, appointed by Lula as justice minister of the government that will take office on January 1, expressed concern with the camps of the most radical followers of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, after the arrest of a man who had tried to detonate an explosive device in Brasilia and who had an arsenal seized in his home.
The man, arrested on Saturday night accused of having tried to detonate an explosive at the airport of the capital of Brazil, admitted to being part of the group of “Bolsonaristas” that is camped in front of the Army headquarters in Brasilia to call for a coup d’état that prevents Lula’s return to power.
“The serious events of Saturday in Brasilia prove that the ‘patriotic’ camps became incubators for terrorists,” said the future justice minister, who is a senator-elect for the state of Maranhao and an important ally of the progressive leader.
Dino said that some measures are being taken and will be expanded, “as quickly as possible,” to neutralize the danger generated by such groups.
However, he regretted that some federal authorities, directly dependent on the far-right leader, have been ignorant in the face of this situation, and warned that “they also have to act in the face of these political crimes.”
“The investigations into the unacceptable terrorism continue,” added Dino, who said he asked the commissioner he will appoint as director general of the Federal Police in the future government to maintain contact with the authorities to be aware of the progress.
“There is no political pact possible and there will be no amnesty for terrorists, their supporters and financiers,” he warned.
The deactivation of an explosive device that had been placed inside a fuel tanker truck and the discovery of the arsenal in the house of the accused of assembling the bomb occurred just eight days before Lula’s inauguration and raised fears about possible violent acts during the inauguration.
In the defendant’s house were found two shotguns, a rifle, two revolvers, three pistols, hundreds of ammunition, camouflaged uniforms and five explosive emulsions used in mining and similar to the one that equipped the device that was deactivated.
Although the Brasilia police initially did not cite any threat or suspicion of a possible attack on January 1, when Lula will assume his third term as president of Brazil, the fact was communicated to the transition team of the progressive leader, who has already expressed his fears for security during the inauguration.
At least 17 heads of state or government have confirmed attendance at the inauguration of the leader and founder of the Workers’ Party, including the king of Spain and the presidents of Germany, Portugal, Argentina and Uruguay.
Lula will be hostage of centrist parties to guarantee the majority in Congress
With promises of participation in the cabinet, as well as freeing up resources for lawmakers, the progressive leader won the backing of the big centrist parties that did not support him in the elections to approve this week a constitutional amendment vital to his management.
The initiative guaranteed money in the 2023 budget to finance subsidies to the poor, raising the minimum wage, investments in education and health and other promises that the founder of the Workers’ Party (PT) made during the election campaign.
The amendment won the support of 331 of the 513 members of the Chamber of Deputies and 63 of the 81 senators thanks to the decisive support of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB), the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and Union Brazil, three formations with important minorities and that did not support Lula in the elections.
Lula negotiates even with Bolsonarist party
The initiative even obtained the vote of 37 of the 56 deputies of the Progressive Party (PP), a right-wing formation that supported President Jair Bolsonaro in the elections, but that approached Lula after he promised to support the re-election of the current president of the lower house, Arthur Lira.
After the unprecedented approval in record time of a proposal from a president not yet to assume, the socialist leader reaffirmed his intention to negotiate the inclusion in the ruling coalition of the center and right formations that did not support him in the elections, but neither Bolsonaro.
“It’s the firstOnce a president begins to govern before taking office. Many parties that are not from the ruling coalition supported the project. That’s why we have to welcome forces that didn’t support us,” he said.
The majority support for his proposal with the help of centrist parties was a sign of Lula’s ability for political negotiations and that he will not have great difficulties dealing with a majority opposition parliament as long as it offers them concessions, analysts consulted by EFE agreed.
“We can never fail to consider that Lula already had eight years of government with a very similar configuration of Congress. From what everything indicates and the speed with which the amendment was approved, the support in Parliament will not be a problem,” Marco Antonio Carvalho Teixeira, an analyst at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation, told EFE.
“To guarantee that support, obviously the composition of the government will have to include the centrist parties,” he added.
Bolsonaro’s party will be the largest in future congress
The leader of the PT will be held hostage by these parties because the Congress elected in October and that will take office in February will be even more conservative than the current one, with Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party (PL) with the largest minorities in both chambers (14 senators and 99 deputies).
The ten parties that supported the former president in the elections will only have 139 of the 513 seats in the lower house, so Lula will depend on the 190 deputies of the four centrist parties with whom he negotiates an alliance to reach majorities.
The need to accommodate so many allies in his government forced Lula to announce a cabinet with 37 ministries, 14 more than Bolsonaro’s.
Of the 16 ministries that he has not yet announced, the progressive leader is negotiating to offer three to the MDB (Environment, Cities and Transport), two to the PSD (Agriculture and Mines and Energy) and one to the Brazilian Union (National Integration).
“If the Bolsonaristas fail to elect a fierce opponent of Lula in the Senate and Chamber presidencies and the president manages to maintain the support of the center, relations with Congress will be calm in his four-year term,” Teixeira said.
The analyst clarified that parliamentary support will also depend on the political situation and whether Lula manages to maintain the support of public opinion. “If the government wears out very quickly, that wear and tear will have repercussions in the relationship with Congress,” he concluded.
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