Planalto dismisses 26 PRF superintendents

This Thursday (19), the Lula government fired 26 regional superintendents from the Federal Highway Police (PRF) at once. The measure, signed by the chief minister of the Civil House, Rui Costa, was published in the Official Gazette. Only the PRF Superintendence in Piauí was not reached by the stampede.

According to the PRF, there is still no forecast to indicate the names that will assume the state superintendencies in the corporation in place of the exonerated ones. For the time being, the PRF in the States remains under the management of substitute superintendents. The information is from the State Agency.

The departure of occupants of positions of trust is a routine act when there is a change of government. The publication in the DO does not explain reasons for the dismissals, nor does it call into question the conduct of the corporation’s regional heads. The concern of the Planalto Palace lies in the alignment of former PRF managers with the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government.

The government had also appointed new regional Federal Police (PF) superintendents in 18 states. The acts of appointment and dismissal of the current occupants of the position were published in an extra edition of the Official Gazette (DOU) dated this Wednesday (18).

Already behind the scenes of the PRF, speculation is gaining intensity about the cadres that should be chosen to lead the institution in the States and in the DF. There is concern regarding the eventual escalation of names linked to the corporation’s former general director, Silvinei Vasques, who retired at the end of December under heavy fire from the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, accused of having used the power and influence of his position to then President Jair Bolsonaro’s campaign in the elections.

During much of the previous government, the PRF was the subject of questioning and controversy, including in the midst of elections, when sectors of the corporation were charged for alleged leniency in the action to unlock road blocks.

In the Bolsonaro administration, the PRF and also the Federal Police – both institutions under the umbrella of the Ministry of Justice – were constantly placed under suspicion of rigging and interference by the then president.

An especially sensitive moment for the corporation was the elections. In the second round, the PRF carried out operations across the country under the allegation of barring the irregular transport of voters, even contrary to the decision of the Superior Electoral Court.

After Lula’s victory, the corporation experienced strong pressure from the Federal Supreme Court (STF) and the Public Ministry, which imposed strict measures against chaos on the country’s main highways, blocked by blockades by Bolsonarist groups.

Both cases put the then head of the PRF, Silvinei Vasques, in the crosshairs of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the PF itself – he is investigated for prevarication and is the target of an administrative improbity action. Other episodes marked the PRF in 2022. As in Sergipe, in the case of Genivaldo de Jesus Santos, asphyxiated and killed in a van turned into a gas chamber.