Aras is now trying to move away from Bolsonaro’s alignment – 7/2/2023 – Politics

Three months away from ending his mandate at the head of the PGR (Attorney General of the Republic) and trying to gain a say in his succession, Augusto Aras brought forward the rendering of accounts on what he considers to be his legacy, prioritizing issues dear to the government of the President Lula (PT) and, at the same time, seeking to move away from his alignment with Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and his omissions in the face of the past administration.

Through posts on his YouTube profile, all of which have a few dozen views, he has defended his management in examining the conduct of government officials regarding the fight against Covid-19 and also in the area of ​​the environment.

Aras was criticized by supporters of the current president and opponents of Bolsonaro —who led him twice to the post— under the accusation of being silent precisely in relation to these issues.

Sought after, the PGR stated that the disclosure is intended to show the institution’s actions to society.

In the videos published in recent weeks, Aras embodies the speech that the body was diligent in overseeing administrative acts and public spending aimed at combating the pandemic. He cites situations such as the lack of oxygen crisis in hospitals in Manaus.

He says that he created the Integrated Cabinet for the Monitoring of Covid-19 in the PGR even before the WHO (World Health Organization) “declared the pandemic state” and that the performance of this team guaranteed the release of public resources to face the problems in Amazonas.

In a recording released on Monday (26), he rebuts criticism of the fact that complaints were not filed based on the Covid CPI report, after the Attorney General’s Office concluded that there was insufficient evidence in the material shared by the Senate committee.

“The attorney general and all colleagues who acted rigorously fulfilled their duties,” he said. “It is necessary to distinguish political rhetoric from legal discourse.”

Aras also praises, in another publication, a tool called Georadar, which, according to him, can detect “an invasion, a burning, a deforestation” in ten seconds.

“We can, immediately, detecting an offense in riverside communities, call state colleagues, regional units, and connect all institutions so that with a certain speed we have not only preventive measures, but repressive ones, to avoid illegal mining, the illegal deforestation,” he says in one of the videos.

Despite Aras’ speeches, the PGR’s performance in actions against Covid and on the environment was controversial.

Initially, when speaking on April 8, 2020 in action by the STF (Federal Supreme Court) on the responsibilities of the president and states and municipalities in defining rules of social isolation, he defended a position aligned with Bolsonaro.

“Normative treatment of the safeguarding of essential services and activities, in the context of implementing measures aimed at mitigating the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, must take place in a linear and coordinated manner throughout the national territory”, said Aras at the time. .

In another action, Aras sent a new opinion to the Supreme Court in the context of an action in which the OAB asked the Supreme Court to force Bolsonaro to follow WHO recommendations.

In that text, under pressure from public opinion and ministers of the higher courts, the prosecutor argued that it is up to the federal government to issue general rules, but that the President of the Republic cannot remove administrative acts from governors and mayors that are in accordance with the law.

During the pandemic, the head of the Federal Public Ministry was also identified as colluding with Bolsonaro, who on several occasions spoke out against social isolation measures and vaccines.

In actions at the Supreme Court in which leftist parties asked for recognition of the Bolsonaro government’s failure to combat Covid-19, the PGR said that a decision in this sense “would imply interference by the Judiciary in the merits of the actions adopted and control of public policies, in operation foreign to the jurisdictional function”.

In July last year, the Deputy Attorney General of the Republic and Aras’ right-hand man, Lindôra Araújo, requested that the main investigation fronts resulting from the work of the Covid CPI be shelved. The commission imputed crimes to several authorities of the Bolsonaro administration.

Aras himself twice asked Minister Rosa Weber, of the STF, to file an inquiry against Bolsonaro in the case of the process of buying the Indian vaccine Covaxin. In this investigation, the former president was investigated under suspicion of prevarication.

On the environment, Aras fully manifested himself against a series of actions that were on the so-called “green agenda” of the 2022 Supreme Court and that were intended to reduce deforestation in the Amazon.

Aras opined against seven actions that were scheduled to be analyzed, including one presented by the PGR itself in the previous management of Raquel Dodge. At the time, the judgment was considered a message from the STF against the dismantling of environmental public policies under Bolsonaro.

The actions on the agenda were defended by a forum of former Ministers of the Environment from the governments of Fernando Henrique Cardoso (PSDB), Lula, Dilma Rousseff (PT) and Michel Temer (MDB).

Although considering the possibility of a third term, Aras knows that he does not lead the preferences of the Planalto Palace. He then works for an ally to succeed him.

There is a concern of the Attorney General of the Republic with the arrival of an opponent in charge of the Federal Public Ministry and a possible revision of procedures of the previous management.

Regarding Covid-19, Aras used the so-called preliminary investigations as an alibi to say that he found suspected irregularities attributed to the former president and his surroundings. The PGR counted hundreds of criminal representations that began to be investigated internally.

STF ministers, however, criticized the strategy for lack of court supervision in these files and closed the siege to the attorney general.

Alexandre de Moraes, Rosa Weber, Cármen Lúcia and Edson Fachin used their decisions to make public criticism.

Among the messages, the magistrates stated that the opinions of the PGR and its team generated “perplexity”, said that the head of the Attorney’s Office cannot assume the role of “spectator” and even issued a note to state that the body had not manifested itself after being caused by the court.