Meet André Mendonça: Attorney, Pastor, and New Minister of Justice

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Tuesday, April 28th, President Jair Bolsonaro appointed André de Almeida Mendonça to the command of the Ministry of Justice and Public Safety. The attorney now leaves the Solicitor General’s Office (AGU) to fill the position left by Sérgio Moro.

When he resigned last week, the former Lava Jato judge accused the President of interference in the Federal Police. The new Minister of Justice, who is also a Pastor of the Presbyterian Church Esperança in Brasília, had been a member of the AGU since 2000 when he ceased his duties as a public defender for Petrobras (1997-2000).

Mendonça was head of internal affairs of the AGU under Fabio Medina Osório, during Michel Temer’s presidency. He joined the Bolsonaro government upon the recommendation of CGU (Comptroller General’s Office) Minister Wagner Rosário, with the support of the evangelical bench. His transfer to the Ministry of Justice was backed by the military leadership and encouraged by the Supreme Court (STF) Presiding Justice, José Dias Toffoli.

He is now expected to better Bolsonaro’s relationship with the Judiciary. Mendonça’s transfer strengthens his nomination for one of the two vacancies that Bolsonaro will be entitled to fill at the STF during his first term in office. The President has already said that he is considering the Minister, whom he referred to as “terribly evangelical”, to one of the posts.

The nomination satisfies an appeal from the congressional evangelical backbenchers, which urged the President to have one of their representatives fill a position in the Supreme Court, in an attempt to render the Court’s profile more conservative. According to the 75-year mandatory retirement criteria for Supreme Court justices, the next two vacancies will be those of Celso de Mello in November this year and Marco Aurélio Mello in July 2021.

Mendonça met Bolsonaro on November 21st, 2018, the same day he was chosen to head the AGU. The conversation, held in the transition office at the CCBB (Cultural Center of the Bank of Brazil) in Brasília, lasted some 40 minutes. The president-elect asked nothing. The questions were left to General Augusto Heleno, who would take over the GSI (Institutional Security Cabinet), and Jorge Oliveira, today Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency – in charge of analyzing Mendonça’s résumé and submitting it to his boss.

Mendonça often says that “more than talking, you need to listen to understand reality.” That day, however, he was a “good jockey,” said Bolsonaro, and then explained: “In the military arena, when a guy is doing well, we say he’s a good jockey. He can go on!”.

On that occasion, Mendonça made an in-depth political review of Bolsonaro’s election and its significance for the country’s course. The future AGU head told the president-elect that, as he had proposed to govern contrary to the coalition presidentialism then in power, building a new form of dialogue and relationship with Congress, he would face a period of greater resistance from the so-called traditional politicians.

With the appointment of Mendonça, the trend is for Bolsonaro to split the Ministry of Justice and re-establish the Public Safety portfolio. In this event, the President’s advisors expect him to appoint the Secretary of Public Safety of the Federal District, Anderson Oliveira, to the post. Anderson has the support of former federal deputy Alberto Fraga, a personal friend of President Bolsonaro.

Source: Folhapress