Maganos need to put an end to the ‘farofas’ – 07/22/2023 – Elio Gaspari

The Supreme Court of the United States is over 200 years old and has only one case of a judge who resigned with a tarnished reputation. Abe Fortas joined the court in 1965 after serving as President Lyndon Johnson’s personal attorney. Three years later, a vacancy opened up for presidency of the court (this position is for life there) and the friend decided to promote him.

Republican senators obstructed the choice and shot Fortas showing that he had been paid $15,000 for lectures at a university. The money came from a fund irrigated by companies that had lawsuits in court. Fortas asked that the nomination be withdrawn and remained in court until another, worse case came along and he resigned.

If the first stage of the Fortas case is copied in Brazil, there will be hundreds of vacancies in the Judiciary.

At the beginning of last week, Moraes had been harassed and one of his relatives was physically attacked at the airport in Rome. The minister was returning from a lecture at the University of Siena, whose faculty of law will complete a thousand years in 2040. Days later, the case took on another aspect. Reporter Eduardo Oinegue pointed out that the International Law Forum, which Moraes attended, was an event sponsored by Unialfa, which has a law school in Goiânia.

The forum started in Valladolid, Spain and continued in Siena. Of the 31 speakers, 20 were Brazilian and 11 were from Unialfa. This university, in turn, belongs to the José Alves Group, which has several activities, including the sale of medicines, with Vitamedic. One of its brands is ivermectin, a cousin of chloroquine. Fifteen days before the International Law Forum, Vitamedic and Unialfa were condemned by the Justice of Rio Grande do Sul because of the support they gave to Bolsonarist healers.

Alexandre de Moraes was harassed in Rome, Luís Roberto Barroso was offended in New York and Gilmar Mendes (patron of forums in Portugal) was mistreated in Lisbon. In all cases there were lectures and, in some cases, they coincided with public holidays. In New York, they even complained about the consulate for not having given them the desired security.

The speaking industry is broad, general, and narrow. It pampers governors, ministers, parliamentarians and also journalists. Who doesn’t remember the Lava Jato baronet lecture counter? The niche of lectures at events abroad (never in Africa) is something for illustrious figures.

It is a business that leads Brazilian maganos to speak to Brazilians in Lisbon, New York and, as we have seen, even in Siena.

Long ago, when there was a tax on foreign travelers, those traveling to congresses and symposiums could ask for an exemption. Behold, a deputy got the exemption because he was going to Paris, as a visiting professor at the Sorbonne. Caught in the ruse, as he was only going to give a lecture in a room rented by the Sorbonne, he explained himself: he was a professor and, going to the Sorbonne, he would be a visiting professor.

These flocks of magistrates, ministers and maganos in general are ridiculous and have already been nicknamed “farofas”.

It is likely that Alexandre de Moraes was unaware of the minutiae revealed by Oinegue. Behind money, prestigious universities and institutions negotiate their logos with organizers of similar events. Give yourself whatever discount you want, all those who go to “farofas” know what they are doing.

Going to these events had a touch of ridiculousness, but the case of Alexandre de Moraes exposed a toxic aspect that ministers and maganos could well avoid. Moraes, like Abe Fortas, is bigger than his damn spell in Siena and Rome.

PRESENT LINK: Did you like this text? Subscriber can release five free hits of any link per day. Just click the blue F below.