Bolsonaro’s expenses in Orlando almost match Lula’s expenses

Former President Jair Bolsonaro has already spent BRL 662,000 on daily rates and tickets for security guards and advisors on his endless vacation in Orlando (USA), from December 29, 2022 to February of this year. The amount represents 94% of expenses for President Lula’s trip to Washington in February – a total of R$ 700,000 with per diems and tickets for 65 members of the presidential entourage. And the expenses of the ex-president in March will still be disclosed. Expenses are registered on the Transparency Portal of the Presidency of the Republic.

But Bolsonaro had more expenses in January and February. The remuneration of six security guards and advisors who were in Orlando and neighboring cities cost another R$ 249,000, raising the former president’s support structure bill to R$ 911,000 in two months. The monthly payroll for the support team is R$ 124,000. Per diem expenses at the end of December, when he was still president, amounted to R$150,000. Expenses as a former president, in January and February, reached R$ 512 thousand.

In comparison with former presidents, Bolsonaro’s spending in Orlando represents twice the expenses of former president Dilma Rousseff during a 43-day vacation in New York, in 2019. His team consumed R$ 209 thousand in daily rates and tickets, in amounts adjusted for inflation. Only the 96 days paid to two security guards cost BRL 174 million. The curious thing is that former presidents do not work, but take vacations at the expense of the taxpayer.

Former presidents are entitled to perks such as per diems and tickets for security guards and advisors, two official armored cars, fuel, vehicle rental, telephone and telecommunications. When he was a deputy, Bolsonaro even presented a bill to end Law 7,474 / 96, which “granted privileges to former presidents”, as he justified it. After being elected, he did not touch the subject again. Today, he enjoys the privileges.

Spending in detail

Three members of Bolsonaro’s support team received 87 per diems worth R$182,000 from January 1st to 30th. The total expense, including tickets, reached BRL 211,000. The same team received another 48 days, in the total amount of BRL 102 thousand, to provide security and advise the former president in Orlando and Oklahoma (USA) from February 13 to March 1, with a total expenditure of BRL 125 thousand .

Two other security guards received another 28 per diems, worth a total of R$55,000, to support Bolsonaro from January 1st to 15th, with a total expense of R$63,500. The same pair received BRL 71,000 for 36 nights in the period from January 29 to February 16. The total expenditure was R$ 84 thousand. Another security guard took 11 days, from the 5th to the 16th of February, with a total expense of R$ 29,000.

The Transparency Portal reports that the six members of the support team received R$54,000 in January. But that’s just the value of the commissioned positions they hold. All military, they have much higher income. Most of them are from the Army. Reserve colonel Marcelo Câmara has a retirement pension of R$26,700 and earns R$10,400 for his advisor position, earning a total of R$37,000.

Reserve captain Sérgio Cordeiro has a pension of R$ 20.5 thousand and the position of special advisor of R$ 13.6 thousand, totaling R$ 34.2 thousand. First Lieutenant Osmar Crivelatti has an assistant position worth BRL 2,200 and a salary of BRL 19,000, with a total income of BRL 22,000. A second sergeant with an income of R$9,000. A non-commissioned officer in the Navy earns R$16,700 and a sub-lieutenant in the Military Police of Rio de Janeiro earns R$6,200.

On vacation with ex

Dilma’s trip was a record of spending. She left São Paulo for New York on January 7, 2019, where she stayed until the 13th. From there, she flew to Seville, where she attended a seminar on the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Two years earlier, in the same city, shortly after her impeachment, she tried to explain the origin of privileges in the country. She stated that Brazil needs democracy to fight against inequality: “we were the last country to abandon slavery. Therefore, we are a country that has in its gene the logic of privilege”.

Speaking of privilege, on January 17, 2019, the former president returned from Seville to New York, where she stayed for another 37 days, until her return to Brazil. The total value of the trip – BRL 209,000 – was very high, compared to the expenses of other former presidents, but it did not reach half of Bolsonaro’s expenses in Orlando.

Democracy Human Rights and the climate crisis

The presidents of Brazil, Lula, and of the United States, Joseph Biden, in a joint statement, after a meeting in Washington, on February 10, reaffirmed the “vital and lasting nature” of the Brazil-US relationship and stressed that the strengthening of democracy, promoting respect for human rights and tackling the climate crisis remain at the center of the common agenda.

Biden and Lula pledged to work together to strengthen democratic institutions and welcomed the second Summit for Democracy, to be held in March 2023. The two highlighted that they continue to reject extremism and violence in politics, condemned hate speech , reaffirmed their intent to build societal resilience to misinformation, and agreed to work together on these issues.