Boulos says Salles seeks electoral use of the MST’s CPI – 05/18/2023 – Politics

Federal deputy Guilherme Boulos (PSOL-SP) stated that Ricardo Salles (PL-SP) wants to make electoral use of the CPI of the MST (Movement of Landless Rural Workers), of which he is the rapporteur, to make his candidacy for the City Hall of São Paulo feasible. Paul.

“He wants to make electoral use of the CPI, he wants to use the CPI on stage to make his candidacy viable in São Paulo. It’s regrettable,” said Boulos, after Salles’ interview with Sheet in which he considered the possibility of the commission reaching the MTST (Movement of Homeless Workers), linked to the PSOL deputy.

Former Minister of the Environment of the government Jair Bolsonaro (PL) said that the commission could increase its scope of action and investigate invasions of urban properties.

Salles and Boulos articulate their candidacies for mayor of São Paulo in 2024.

Boulos said that the possibility of investigation considered by the rapporteur does not concern him “at all”. “If he creates a deviation from the purpose of the CPI and deals with a topic that is not within its scope, that does not last ten minutes. It does not hold up either in the Chamber or in the Judiciary. It is anti-regimental.”

Asked whether he would consider taking the issue to court if that happens, Boulos said he hopes he doesn’t have to get to that point — and that he believes the Chamber will be able to react and “put a brake” on the initiative. “Seeing a CPI instrumented for the personal use of its rapporteur, I believe that the President of the Chamber himself will put a limit on this.”

The commission was installed this Wednesday (17) in a session marked by attacks on the movement and the exchange of accusations between ruralist and government parliamentarians. Most CPI members belong to the Agricultural Parliamentary Front (FPA), one of the strongest forces in the House.

The commission’s main posts were in the hands of representatives of the agribusiness group and linked to the opposition. The president of the CPI will be Lieutenant Colonel Zucco (Republicanos-RS).

Kim Kataguiri (União Brasil-SP) will be the first vice-president, Delegado Fabio Costa (PP-AL) will be the second vice-president and Evair Vieira de Melo (PP-ES) will be the third vice-president.

Boulos stated that Salles “does not have any credibility” and has “zero exemption” to be the commission’s rapporteur. “He is the guy to pass the cattle, accused of having a relationship with a logger. This already puts the way in which the CPI will be conducted under suspicion”, he said.

“If we are going to talk about crime, let’s talk about timber trafficking and environmental crimes committed by Ricardo Salles when he was Minister of the Environment. A commission like this one that is going to analyze crimes in the countryside should start there, with the crimes of the Salles, of loggers and prospectors.”

PSOL leader in the Chamber, the deputy says that whenever he deems it necessary he will participate in CPI sessions to “combat arbitrariness and attempts to criminalize social movements”.

PSOL chose deputies Sâmia Bomfim (SP) and Talíria Petrone (RJ) to join the commission. The PT, on the other hand, indicated names linked to the landless movement and chose the president of the party, Gleisi Hoffmann (PR).

On the night of this Thursday (18), the national leadership of the landless movement released a note stating that the CPI was installed without a specific purpose and that it represents “an attempt to criminalize the MST and put pressure on the government.”

The text criticizes the choice of Salles and Zucco in the commission’s command posts and says that they do not have the legitimacy to conduct any type of investigation against the MST.

The MST also states that criminalizing the movement’s struggle through a CPI is a strategy to “omit the real ills of the countryside” and lists aspects such as “increasing deforestation, land grabbing, fires, violence in the countryside, use of labor analogous to slavery”.

Still in the note, the movement says that it defends the fulfillment of the Constitution and that the landless families in camps make “a dignified fight for land, shelter and work, rights guaranteed in the Magna Carta”.

“Knowing that our fight is fair and that, in this CPI, we are not the criminals, we will participate in it to present the agrarian reform that Brazil needs”, says the text.