Opposition targets CPMI vandalism in Brasilia to reach Lula

An opposition movement has gained strength in recent days to set up a Joint Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPMI), associated with the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, with the aim of investigating the acts of vandalism on January 8.

The advance is due to the government’s articulation to prevent the opening of a CPI on the subject in the Senate and to the opposition’s purpose of expanding the theme and the list of characters targeted in the investigations, in order to reach not only the authors of the vandalism, but also the possible cases of omission by federal authorities, already in the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

Proposed by Deputy André Fernandes (PL-CE), the CPMI already has 30 signatures from senators, the minimum number required, and 120 from deputies, needing another 51 to file the application.

On social networks, there is a strong demand from voters for the position of their parliamentarians in the respective state, with emphasis on the almost absolute absence of names from the left.

CPMI supporters understand that, in addition to the need to punish the culprits, any arbitrariness of Justice against those who did not commit vandalism reinforces the urgency of fully clarifying the episode and individualizing blame.

In support of this thesis, opposition senators and deputies visited this Wednesday (15) the Papuda prison in Brasília, where 611 men are imprisoned for the acts of January and have already gathered information.

Senators Rogério Marinho (PL-RN), Carlos Portinho (PL-RJ), Eduardo Girão (Novo-CE) and Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ), Mecias de Jesus (Republicanos-RR), Wellington Fagundes (PL-MT) and Tereza Cristina (PP-MS) released a joint statement after the visit, stating that “high occupancy [na penitenciária] reflects on the quality of supply of food to prisoners and on health care, as verified on site”.

For the senators who visited the place, these people have their fundamental rights ignored. “Whoever committed the crimes must be punished to the fullest extent of the law, whoever that may be. But that everything follows the due legal process, which is not happening”, said senator Eduardo Girão to the People’s Gazette.

Tereza Cristina also visited, this Thursday (16), the 350 women who are imprisoned in the Female Penitentiary of the Federal District.

For Senator Girão, the CPMI is the ideal forum and the most effective instrument to investigate the facts involving the 8th of January, with greater transparency and accuracy. “We cannot ignore previously reported evidence, such as that the Intelligence Agency (Abin) warned, well in advance, 48 bodies in 16 ministries about the imminent risk of depredation of the palaces”, he observed.

The senator believes that the commission can confirm or not whether there was an omission by the government and also investigate other developments of the tragic day. At this point, he highlights controversial statements that led the Federal Police to withhold the cell phone of Senator Marcos do Val (Podemos-ES).

Deputy José Medeiros (PL-MT), who accompanied the entourage of senators to Papuda, said that “many of the people arrested were arrested even though they did not participate in acts of vandalism” and that they should be considered “political prisoners”.

For the author of the CPMI proposal, Deputy André Fernandes (PL-CE), the commission of inquiry’s main mission is to investigate acts of action and omission that took place on January 8 at the headquarters of the three Powers of the Republic. But he understands that the Lula government contributed to the scenes of destruction in Brasília, citing warnings made in a document from the Institutional Security Office (GSI), two days before.

Government base presses to curb CPI in Senate

Although the CPI initiative presented by Senator Soraya Thronicke (União-MS), still in January, has already received 38 signatures, a number above the minimum necessary, there are comments behind the scenes about the risk of the government taming the profile of the commission’s performance or, as the case may be, pressuring the base to withdraw signatures. Most of the names that endorse the request are already from the base.

According to sources linked to four senators, for the time being, no movement has yet been made to empty the list, but the government is closely observing whether the commission will prosper and then act, with the already exposed argument that it can disrupt the processing of projects. structural changes in the economy, such as the fiscal framework and tax reform.

As a resource, there is also the possibility of contesting the signatures made in January, during the previous legislature, considering that the CPI would only be installed in the subsequent legislative period, starting on February 1st.

Both President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and the Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino, have already made public statements condemning the installation of the collegiate, although supporters in Congress, such as Renan Calheiros (MDB-AL) and Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP ), were the first to support the idea, before the inauguration of new parliamentarians.

Opponents of the investigation fear that the proposal will move forward, if the same precedent is established as the CPI of Covid in the Senate, which was opened in 2021 by order of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), despite the resistance of the President of the House, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD -MG).

On the side of the opposition in the Senate, the main criticism of the leaders in relation to Soraya’s request is in the wording itself, which already defines the episode as a coup plot and suggests that those involved can be classified as terrorists. There are also those who fear that the work will be conducted in a partisan manner, which will not open space to focus on issues raised by the opposition.