Alvorada furniture is found after Lula x Bolsonaro duel – 03/20/2024 – Power

The Presidency of the Republic found all 261 assets from the Palácio da Alvorada heritage that were missing and which were the reason for an exchange of barbs between the presidential couples Lula da Silva and Bolsonaro.

The dispute began during the government transition, at the beginning of last year, when Lula (PT) and First Lady Janja complained about the conditions of the official residence and pointed out that some furniture from the property was missing, when Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and his wife Michelle Bolsonaro moved away.

The absence of furniture had also been one of the reasons alleged by the new government for spending R$196,700 on luxury furniture, as revealed by Sheet.

The survey of the Palácio da Alvorada’s heritage, for the period 2022, was completed at the end of last year, by the Annual Inventory Commission of the Presidency of the Republic. The activities had preliminarily indicated that 261 mentioned assets had not been located during the work.

The Presidency of the Republic then states that a new conference had been held at the beginning of 2023, already during Lula’s administration. So that number of missing assets decreased to 83.

Upon completion of the work, in September last year, it was discovered that none of the furniture or assets belonging to the Palácio da Alvorada were lost.

The so-called “furniture war” began in the first days of 2023, when President Lula complained about starting his government living in a hotel, without being able to move to the official residence of Palácio da Alvorada. He complained about the state of conservation of the official residences of Alvorada and Granja do Torto.

During a breakfast with journalists, he stated that Jair Bolsonaro and his wife Michelle “took everything”.

“I don’t know if it was the couple’s private things, but they took everything. So we are making reparations, because it is public property,” said the president, who returned to the topic moments later.

“At least the top [do palácio], it looks as if it hadn’t been inhabited, because it’s all dismantled, there’s no bed, there’s no sofa. Possibly, if it was his, he would have been right to take it. But, there it is a public thing”, he added.

After the president’s speeches, Secom (Secretariat of Social Communication of the Presidency) released the information that 261 assets from Alvorada’s heritage had disappeared, later recognizing that this number had dropped to 83 pieces of furniture and other items.

Michelle reacted to the Lula government months later, in April, stating that all the furniture that was taken was hers and not public property. She mocked the couple Lula and Janja when asking for the installation of a CPI on Alvorada’s furniture.

In a sequence of stories on Instagram, responding to a follower’s question, Michelle said that the furniture was in the Presidency’s warehouse and that she used her own furniture from the second half of 2019.

The absence of furniture was also pointed out in April last year, as one of the reasons for the purchase of luxury furniture for Alvorada without bidding.

A bed, two sofas and two armchairs were purchased from a store in a design and decoration shopping mall in Brasília. In another store, the government purchased a king size mattress.

The highest expenses were with the sofa with electric mechanism (reclining for the head and feet), which cost R$65,100 and with a bed costing R$42,300.

“In January of this year, the curatorship of official residences identified that 261 pieces of furniture from Alvorada were missing. After three months of searching, 83 pieces of furniture had still not been found. The absence of furniture and the poor state of maintenance found in the furniture at Alvorada required the acquisition of some items”, informed the Presidency at the time, when asked about the purchase of furniture.

When questioned now, whether the purchase was hasty, considering that the furniture was not lost, the government states that all the reasons and justifications for the acquisition of the goods were expressed in official channels, with their respective legal grounds.

“It is also worth highlighting that the acquired assets became part of the Union’s assets and will be used by future heads of State who reside there”, informed the Presidency.

Former First Lady Michelle told Sheet that the case of the disappearance of furniture was a “smokescreen”.

“For a long time, this government wanted to attribute the disappearance of Alvorada’s furniture to us, even insinuating that it had been stolen during our management. In fact, they always knew that this was a lie, but they wanted a smokescreen to take the focus of the news that they would spend the people’s money to buy new furniture on a whim”, he states, in a note.

“This is a recurring technique of theirs. Despite all the emotional distress it caused me, I was always sure that God would bring the truth to light, not only in this case, but in all the false accusations that these evil people have made against us”, he adds.

The list of 263 assets that were missing and were found, obtained by Sheet via the Access to Information Law, contains various furniture, household items, books and works of art.

There are six beds in total, made from materials such as steel, metal and wood. There are also five sofas, most of which are described as “wooden art sofas”, with leather or fabric upholstery.

The list also shows 21 armchairs, 28 chairs, 28 tables, stoves, washing machines, cabinets, lamps, counters, air conditioning units, gas cylinders.

The list also contains the bronze sculpture O Rito dos Rhytmos, by the artist Maria Martins, one of the main names in modernism, which for many years was located in the Alvorada gardens. There is also a crystal pine cone, a silver cigarette case, Persian rugs and dozens of books.

See the list of items acquired by Lula for Alvorada

• Sofa (306 cm wide, 110 cm deep), with electric reclining mechanism for head and feet, covered in gray leather, natural grain. Value: R$65,140

• Sofa (232 cm wide, 109 cm deep), with electric reclining mechanism for head and feet, covered in gray leather, natural grain. Value: R$31,690

• Bed (231 cm wide, 246 cm deep and 94 cm high), with natural grain leather covering, light sanding and oily finish. Metal feet and secondary fabric covering. Value: R$42,230

• Ergonomic armchair (90 cm wide and 82 cm deep), covered in leather, with white ottoman, natural grain leather covering, with seat cushions filled in polyurethane and metal structure. Value: R$29,450

• Fixed armchair (107 cm wide and 94 cm deep), in blue velvet, with stainless steel legs, structure in reforested wood, naval pine. Value: R$ 19,270

• Mattress (193 cm wide and 203 cm long) masterpiece top visco. Value: R$8,990