Page 11 - MONTT LATIN AMERICAN MAGAZINE, AUGUST 2021 (English)

in uence next year’s elections. He has just been included in a new investigation by the Brazilian Supreme Court for spreading false news. In an Internet transmission two weeks ago, the Head of State released partial information on an investigation by the Federal Police, and hinted without evidence a possible fraud in the electronic ballot boxes, used in Brazil since the 1990s. Court minister, Alexandre de Moraes, investigates Bolsonaro in that process, which aroused the fury of the President, aggravated by the fact that Roberto Je erson, president of the Brazilian Labour Party and a faithful ally of Bolsonaro, was arrested on suspicion of integrating the digital militias Bolsonarians who send destabilizing information through social networks. Je erson became something of an informal spokesman for the President by recording videos proposing military intervention and attacks on the Supreme Court.
The attitude of the Minister of Moraes is a response from the high court to reverse the authoritarian escalation of the President and his allies. Apparently, in the last two months, Bolsonaro would have multiplied his provocations, o ending members of the Court who contest his campaign against the electronic ballot box, or suggesting that there may be an intervention “outside the four lines of the Constitution.” Many believe that these top o icials, however, regard the gestures of the Head of Government as “increasingly creative authoritarian bluster”, and nothing more. The military would not be willing to adventure, even when some general of the government comes to insinuate otherwise. The courts have the power to repress any action of this type supported by the Constitution. “There are prevention mechanisms. If there were a threat, there would be no problem to avoid it ”, assures a source from the Court.
There is a consensus in Brasilia that the high command of the Armed Forces will not embark on coup adventures, and they assure their interlocutors in Congress and the Judiciary that they will defend democracy. Analysts argue that military participation in the government and the president’s in ammatory speeches already have an indirect in uence, generating a climate of fear among parliamentarians at the time of some votes on the Parliamentary Commission of the Pandemic, for example. Senator Alessandro Viera, from the Citizenship party, perceived this when they wanted to summon the current Minister of Defence, the reserve general Braga Netto, at the beginning of August, for his role as coordinator of the Covid-19 crisis commission. “There are legislators who fear an armed reaction. When that level is reached, it is possible that there will no longer be democracy, “ he said.
Post Privatization
It is believed that the political crisis will spread and test the limits of Congress, the Supreme Court and a part of society that still watches these events from afar. “I don’t think the President is going to stop creating institutional crises for this or other reasons. He needs these chapters because he does not know how to govern, ”says deputy Marcelo Ramos. “If he did not talk about printed votes, weapons or not having elections, he would have to talk about industrial policy, how to ght unemployment, how to reduce hunger in the country, and he does not know how to do it,” he concludes.
On the other hand, the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies approved a bill that allows the privatization of the Postal and Telegraph Company, the main responsible for the delivery of mail and parcels in the South American country. The approval authorizes the sale of the entity to private initiative by calling an auction and represents a victory for the Government of President Jair Bolsonaro.
The privatization of the Brazilian Postal and Telegraph Company is on the list of 115 assets to be sold or o ered in concession by the Ministry of Economy, which estimates that the handover of these state-owned companies to private hands can generate investments of USD $70,442 million.
The privatization of the company and other important organizations, such as the electricity company Eletrobras, is part of an ambitious agenda of privatizations and concessions promoted by Bolsonaro’s economic team, with which it hopes to reduce the size of the State.
With the endorsement of Congress, the Government plans to carry out the auction of the Post O ice in the rst half of 2022. To justify the sale of the company, which has almost 100,000 employees, the Executive a irms that there is uncertainty regarding the company’s self-su iciency and capacity for future investments.
Likewise, just at the moments when the covid gave way and investors were preparing to arrive in Brazil, the di erent political crises of the last time had their e ect and data from the Central Bank showed a signi cant drop in direct investment, that is, the foreign capital that enters the country to invest in the productive sector. In June 2021, 174 million dollars arrived, a decrease of 96,7 percent compared to June of last year, USD $5,200 million, and below the forecast of the Central Bank itself, which was of the order of USD $ 2,500 million. Investors blame the existing political instability, because if it were for the reforms alone, Brazil would be attracting a greater volume of investments, considering that it is experiencing a time of great global liquidity.
Montt Latin American Magazine p11
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