Planalto assesses loss of BRL 4.3 million after attacks on 1/8 – 06/28/2023 – Politics

The Presidency of the Republic estimated at around BRL 4.3 million the damage with the coup attacks on the Planalto Palace on January 8. The largest slice refers to works of art plundered by radical Bolsonarists during anti-democratic acts.

The balance sheet was sent to the CPI on January 8 and made available this Tuesday (27). This is the most detailed report made by Planalto on goods damaged or lost by vandals.

The General Coordination of Asset Management of the Presidency identified 24 damaged works of art. Of these, 15 had the values ​​evaluated by the agency — an amount that reaches R$ 3.5 million.

The value, however, is much higher, since some of the works of art do not have a measured value. This is the case of the 17th century French clock, given by the French court as a gift to Dom João 6º.

There are only two units of the clock produced by the artist Balthazar Martinot. The second is at the Palace of Versailles in France.

The armoire used as a base for the clock, a porcelain amphora and a rosewood chair are among the other damaged works whose assessment cannot be made.

The painting As mulatas, by Emiliano Di Cavalcanti, was estimated at R$ 3.2 million. A report made by Iphan (National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute) shows that the work was damaged with seven perforations.

“The extent of each perforation (average size of the Portuguese stone), the characteristic of each damage (with partial detachment of the support) and location on the screen (in the center of its extension) can lead to aggravation of deterioration due to the natural movement of the fibers of the fabric in stretch”, detailed the technicians in the report.

A solid wooden bench designed by Oscar Niemeyer and his daughter Anna Maria suffered “dirt marks and some points of abrasion, especially in the corner areas”, according to the Iphan report. The work is valued at R$ 15,500.

In a technical note sent to the CPI, the General Technical Coordinator of the Curatorial Board of the Presidential Palaces, Laisa Günther, stated that some works of art could not be priced due to several variables.

“Not only because issues related to the symbolic are sensitive to divergences of understanding, but also because the strict value of artistic works is a fluid category. that paradoxically both situations are possible”, he wrote.

The Planalto Palace also spent around BRL 300,000 for the physical recovery of internal and external areas of the seat of the Executive. The largest share (R$ 204,000) involved replacing glass broken by vandals.

The amount also includes R$ 39,000 for repairing damaged elevators, R$ 15,000 for special partitions and R$ 8,700 for electrical repairs, among other costs.

The Presidency of the Republic also detailed 189 movable assets that were damaged by radical Bolsonarists. The set represents a loss of R$ 363 thousand.

On that list are video monitors, six microcomputers, 79 stackable chairs and televisions, among other goods.

149 Presidency items were also stolen by the vandals, worth R$ 142,000. The list of stolen items includes eight spark elite 22.0 stun guns, health equipment (stethoscope, nebulizer and glucometer) and four handcuffs.

The vandals also left the Esplanada dos Ministérios with large objects that are difficult to move around, such as armchairs, drawers and a table for four people, with an MDF top.

The reports sent to the CPI on January 8 also present a series of photographs that show how the goods were before the depredation and how they were after the invasion by the radical Bolsonarists.

The images show, for example, that vandals scribbled a mustache on José Bonifácio’s painting.

The details were sent by the Presidency of the Republic in response to a request from Senator Augusta Brito (PT-CE). In the text, she asks for the specification of all the plundered assets to “allow a more reliable accountability regarding the reparation of damages to the vandalized historical-cultural heritage”.

In February, the AGU (Advocacy-General of the Union) asked the Justice to extend a precautionary action that blocked assets of suspects of financing the chartering of buses for the coup acts in a larger process, which would guarantee the definitive condemnation of compensation to the public coffers .

The amount of this compensation would be R$ 20.7 million and was calculated by the AGU based on the losses pointed out by the STF (Federal Supreme Court), the Planalto Palace and the National Congress.