RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A week away from the protests against the National Congress and the Federal Supreme Court (STF), the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Rodrigo Maia, raised the tone of criticism against President Jair Bolsonaro.
When taking part in a debate in São Paulo yesterday, Maia said that the government has a structure to “viralize hatred” through fake news and that Bolsonaro drives investors away by creating uncertainty over his commitments to democracy and the environment.
“We don’t have the same resources and structure as the government to viralize so much fake news as has been the case in recent weeks,” said the deputy during a lecture on the 2020 congressional agenda at the Fernando Henrique Cardoso Institute in downtown São Paulo.
Maia has been one of the main targets of messages against Congress on social media by government supporters. He has sought out other officials and entrepreneurs in an attempt to jointly address what he classifies as authoritarian escalation.
Maia started his speech by saying that Brazil is experiencing a “challenge to liberal democracies” and that technology has become an attack field on people. “None of this costs very much. A [social media] robot costs US$12 a month.” In December, Federal Deputy and former Bolsonaro supporter Joice Hasselmann told the Fake News Congressional Committee (CPMI) that one of the most active groups spreading false news and personal attacks is the so-called “hate cabinet,” made up of special advisors to the Presidency. Legislators who follow the CPMI’s work estimate that such a structure would cost R$1.5 million a month.
Economy
Two days after the announcement of last year’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) result, which frustrated economists’ predictions, Maia said the government’s omission could lead to “stagnating reforms”. “The government promised a lot but failed to deliver. It had a growth projection of 2.5 percent and it grew 1.1 percent”. He also criticized the Executive’s delay in submitting proposals for tax and administrative reforms.
According to him, the welfare reform “was abandoned by the government team”. “It was Congress that set and discussed the agenda,” he said. In Maia’s view, “Parliament needs not only reform the state but also reform the sectors” as a means to attract foreign capital.
While commenting on the economy, Maia recalled a recent meeting with European entrepreneurs. He said that investors from other countries told him that they stopped investing in Brazil because of President Bolsonaro. “The government creates great insecurity for society and investors. People are not investing anymore because of the environment and the democratic issue”.
Sitting next to Maia at the lecture, former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso also criticized the government. “When the President does not exercise power, other forces will. When the leadership doesn’t play the role of aggregation, things don’t progress,” he said, noting that Bolsonaro’s leadership lacks direction. At the end of his comments, FHC praised Maia. “Thank God we have leaders in Congress. The main one is here beside me”.
Despite this, Maia said that Congress does not want to have “an inch of what is the responsibility of the Executive”. “Conflicts are created where they don’t exist in a country with 11 million unemployed. We cannot discuss something created to spread hatred, which is this issue of white [disguised] parliamentarianism”, he said.
Imbalance
The term “white parliamentarianism” was used by the Cabinet Minister of Institutional Security (GSI), Augusto Heleno, caught on a social media broadcast on February 18th saying that the government “cannot accept these guys blackmailing us all the time” when referring to Congress.
The disclosure of the Minister’s statements was used by Bolsonarist groups to call for action against legislators. In his speech yesterday, Maia said that Heleno became the ” Minister of imbalance”. “They turn untrue issues into truths on social media to create an enemy against the government.”
Source: Exame