Mourão: I would have a beer with Dino, but I won’t vote for him for STF – 11/10/2023 – Power

Senator and former vice-president of the Republic Hamilton Mourão (Republicanos-RS) assesses that President Lula (PT) should not appoint the Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino (PSB), to the STF (Supreme Federal Court) and says that , if this happens, you will leave your vote against.

“[Quando era do Alto Comando do Exército] I voted for people I would never sit down for a beer; and I stopped voting for people I would drink beer and chat with all night long. I can invite Dino to have a beer, but I won’t vote for him.”

In an interview with SheetMourão states that the government hesitated in signing the GLO (Guarantee of Law and Order) decree that placed military personnel to face the crisis in public security in Rio de Janeiro out of shame for the political discourse adopted by Palácio do Planalto until then.

The senator also recognizes that the theft of 21 machine guns from the Army War Arsenal, which occurred in October, “was terrible” for the image of the Armed Forces and says that the units are subject to the action of organized crime.

Amnesty for January 8th defendants

These people are being judged in the last instance, the principle of natural justice was not obeyed, the conduct is not individualized. When you look at the work as a whole, there are some people you can identify, who broke it, vandalized it. And there are the other people who were passengers of agony in this film. Amnesty is a tradition in Brazil. Those people [do 8 de janeiro] They didn’t kill anyone, what they did was material damage. And I put it there in article 2 [do projeto] that I’m taking away [da anistia] those who actually engaged in acts of vandalism and depredation.

Requests for military intervention on January 8

You can ask for anything in life. Asking is freedom of expression. Now, if you take a rifle, grenade and go out into the street, that’s another thing. But no one there was armed with a rifle or a grenade or anything.

Did the bill arrive for the Armed Forces?

There is a certain prejudice in the most enlightened, or pseudo-enlightened, segment of society towards the Armed Forces. My concern has always been this association: that the opposition that there has always been towards the president [Jair Bolsonaro] throw this account into the lap of the Forces. In part, the concern was realized. The very issue of the president’s distrust of commanders. There was no need to be suspicious.

Relationship between the Armed Forces and Lula government

I think it has been stretched. Any government in Brazil will understand that the Armed Forces constitute a strategic reserve for a countless number of projects or as a solution to various problems. From disaster relief, event security and even the issue of public safety, which is being raised now.

GLO in Rio

It won’t solve [o problema]. I think this [GLO em portos, aeroportos e fronteiras] It was a bit of a haphazard planning. Oh, I’m going to put the Air Force at Galeão airport, in Santos Dumont, there in São Paulo; I’m going to put the Navy in the port of Santos, in the port of Rio de Janeiro. Yes, so what? Are you only going to intensify patrols there for a limited period? During this period, the drug trafficking group will take other protective measures, knowing that in May [a GLO] ends. Everything is back as before in the Abrantes barracks.

‘Embarrassed government’

I see the government embarrassed. He is embarrassed to employ the Armed Forces because of his political speech. The time will come when he will have to understand that that reserve [Forças Armadas] It’s there to be used. If he has 220 thousand men and women in the Army, 50 thousand in the Navy and Air Force, which he pays religiously every month, he has to employ them.

It is an ideological issue, although in previous Lula and Dilma governments the GLO was used. If any Military Police strike happens in any state in the country, who are they going to call? The Armed Forces.

PEC against military in politics

The military is not in politics. I took a survey of the number of candidates we had in last year’s election, [de militares] active. There were 16 officers and 20 sergeants in a workforce of 220 thousand. Is the military in politics with this very low number? In my view, this PEC shoots at something that is not meant to be shot at.

Military personnel in the Bolsonaro government

The ministers who were there who came from the military can be counted on one hand. The PT appoints a trade unionist as minister. So are we going to say it is a government of unionists?

Bolsonaro’s attempt to reverse the election

I didn’t attend any meetings, so I can’t say whether the president [Bolsonaro] said this or that. Regarding the famous story of the draft of the coup… There is no draft of a coup. The comrade takes it, takes the hit and then we see how the legal issue is going to be resolved. That does not exist. I don’t think it ever crossed the president’s mind [Bolsonaro] this idea.

There is a lot of speculation. Perhaps due to the behavior of the president, who was depressed after losing the election, worried about the issue of the lawsuits he could suffer from then on. I think this was the climate we experienced in that period between the end of October and December.

Bolsonaro and Walter Braga Netto ineligible

I do not see [como livramento não ter sido vice de novo]especially because if I had been vice-president, we would have won the election [risos]. I see this situation with sadness, I don’t think the way in which both President Bolsonaro and Braga Netto have been persecuted over the issue of September 7th is correct. That’s a bit of a stretch right there.

Republicans in the PT ministry

I understood Congressman Silvio’s choice [Costa Filho, ministro de Portos e Aeroportos] as the president’s personal choice [Lula]. The party obviously agreed, but I don’t see that the party has fully embraced the government. If I had embraced it completely, I wouldn’t have been able to continue [no Republicanos]. Because I was Bolsonaro’s vice president, you can’t put me in that position. Although my opposition is not against everything and everyone. Good things, regardless of whether they come from the government or not, will always have my support. As long as we are in this position, I am within the party.

José Múcio in Defense

O [ministro] I consider Múcio to be an extraordinary guy. He is a conciliatory fellow, he knows how to listen a lot, he has very clear positions. I think he was an excellent choice by President Lula and he is doing an excellent job as Minister of Defense.

Flavio Dino

He talks a lot. Even now he has reduced exposure. I think he understood that he was crossing a line that wasn’t the safest for him.

Nomination to the STF

The prerogative of the President of the Republic is to nominate someone with impeccable conduct and notable legal knowledge. Let’s wait and see if Dino will be nominated. I don’t know [se ele pode ser aprovado]. He is our colleague, he is a senator like us. I don’t vote because I believe the president shouldn’t nominate him. I should have nominated anyone else but him. I get along very well with him, but I don’t vote. I was a member of the Army High Command for four years, where we vote to promote officers to general. I voted for people I would never sit down with for a beer; and I stopped voting for people I would drink beer and chat with all night long. I can invite Dino to have a beer, but I won’t vote for him [para o Supremo].

PF investigation into intervention in Rio in 2018

It’s more fuss than anything else. That famous assassination of reputation. The Federal Police has become famous for this. We already had that case with the dean [Luiz Carlos Cancellier] from the University of Santa Catarina who committed suicide. These spectacular operations, when you will look: ‘were the vests bought?’ No. The bid was canceled precisely because the company did not present the necessary documentation. Then the matter dies.

Weapons stolen from barracks

It’s a serious case. It was an unusable material, but the drug trade might have been able to buy some parts outside the country in order to recover that weaponry. It was the unit’s responsibility to have that under control. So that was terrible. Terrible.

Military units are subject to this action by organized crime. Who are the soldiers we have? It’s the kids who come from the outskirts. Those who serve in the Army are the black, poor, illiterate crowd, as my friend Fabiano Contarato would say. [líder do PT no Senado]. This is the group that serves the Army, for the most part, and that suffers interference from drug trafficking for actions of this nature. This is one of the problems we face. ‘I’m going to kill your sister, I’m going to kill your father if you don’t bring me a rifle.’ Unfortunately this happens.

I had never seen anything [furto de armas] of this magnitude. The last robbery of this nature, this big, was when [Carlos] Lamarca [guerrilheiro contra a ditadura militar]in 1969, stole the rifles.

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X-RAY | HAMILTON MOURÃO, 70

He is a senator for Rio Grande do Sul and was vice-president of the Republic in the Bolsonaro government (2019 to 2022). A retired general, in his military career he served as an attaché in Venezuela and was a military commander in the South. In 2018, he joined the PRTB and entered politics.