The flock of Lula’s ministers on FAB jets

Ministers from the Lula government are traveling home on weekends on FAB jets, in some cases without an official agenda in the state. In others, the agenda has a political character. Most allege security issues to request the official aircraft, mainly after the invasion and depredation of the buildings of Congress and the Federal Supreme Court (STF). One of the ministers traveled alone in the aircraft.

The Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, Márcio Macedo, made a trip with several stops. He traveled with the Minister of Culture, Margareth Menezes, to Salvador, on the 6th, a Friday afternoon. From there, he headed for Aracaju, where he has a fixed residence, as the only passenger on the official jet, as if he were in an “Uber” Aéreo. In the capital of Sergipe, the minister and licensed deputy (PT/SE), had a meeting with Mayor Edvaldo Nogueira, president of the National Front of Mayors, to “prepare the agenda for a future dispatch” from the mayor to President Lula.

On Sunday, Macedo flew to Maceió again on a solo flight. There, he hitched a ride with the mayor, Arthur Lira, to Brasília Deputado. The minister’s advisory said that, on Sunday, after the “episodes of terrorism that occurred in Brasília”, with the invasion of the Planalto Palace, where the General Secretariat works, and given the urgency to return to the federal capital, Macêdo “again took ride on a plane requested by another authority”.

The advisory also stated that the two trips made by Minister Macêdo on FAB planes “are related to work commitments. In addition, the two flights mentioned are complementary segments of trips that had origin (6/1) and destination (8/1 ) in Brasilia, made under the regime of sharing the main stretch with other authorities that had requested aircraft from the FAB”.

Dino and Haddad justify flights

According to legal norms, Ministers of State can use FAB aircraft for service, medical or security emergencies. But Decree 10.267/2020 says that “it is presumed to be a security reason” for aircraft to travel to the permanent residence of the presidents of the Chamber, the Senate and the Federal Supreme Court (STF).

The Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino, flew to São Luís on a FAB jet, on Friday (13), without an official agenda, and returned on Monday (16). The Ministry of Justice stated that Minister Flávio Dino’s trip to São Luís complied with Decree 10,267. It was carried out for security reasons, “in the face of constant and recent anti-democratic attacks, including against Mr. Minister”. The decree authorizes the trip by justifying the need for security.

The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, traveled to São Paulo on the 6th, Friday, at 5:25 pm. His agenda was a meeting of “internal dispatches” at the Treasury office in São Paulo, with his chief of staff, Laio Moraes, from 8 pm to 9 pm. The Ministry of Finance stated that Haddad, dispatched on Friday at the Office of the Ministry of Finance in São Paulo, “an opportunity in which he visited the office for the first time”. And he added that the minister returned on Monday on the FAB flight “due to the terrorist acts that took place in Brasília on January 8th. The trips followed the rules established by Decree nº 10.267, meeting the safety and service criteria”.

parish visits

Some jet trips may even comply with the presidential decree, but reveal actions such as parochial interests. The Minister of Communications, Juscelino Filho, traveled to São Luís to fulfill his official agenda on the 18th, Thursday. Licensed Federal Deputy (União Brasil/MA), he visited the Anatel Office in the state capital, honored the inauguration of the president of the Federation of Maranhenses Municipalities and had an audience with Governor Carlos Brandão. On Monday, he gave interviews to radio and television stations and had a meeting with the mayor of São Luís, Eduardo Braide.

The Minister of Cities, Jader Filho, son of Senator Jader Barbalho and brother of Governor Elder Barbalho, traveled to Belém on the 6th in a FAB jet. He had a meeting with Mayor Edmilson Rodrigues to discuss the progress of housing, sanitation and urbanization works in Belém. The ministry stated that the minister had a ticket for a commercial flight, but the ministerial meeting in Brasília delayed the departure, requiring the use of the official jet. He returned to Brasilia by airliner.

The Minister of Culture, Margareth Menezes, flew to Salvador on the 6th, Friday, in a FAB aircraft, and returned on Monday. The blog questioned the ministry if it complied with the official agenda of the capital of Bahia, but there was no response until the publication of the report. The Minister of Labor, Luís Marinho, traveled to São Paulo on the 13th and returned on the 16th. The blog questioned the ministry if the minister fulfilled his official agenda in São Paulo over the weekend. There was no answer.

The history of stewardships

The trip of ministers home in FAB jets was permitted in PT governments. According to the legislation at the time, ministers could use the aircraft on business trips, for reasons of safety and medical emergencies, and also when traveling to their permanent residence, as provided for in Decree 4,244/2002. Many ministers scheduled official and political appointments in their electoral strongholds on weekends to legitimize the use of official jets.

The then Minister of Institutional Relations, José Múcio (PTB), was, proportionally, the person who most flew home in FAB jets. Of his trips during 22 months, in 2008 and 2009, 71 flights went to his home in Recife. He is now Minister of Defense in the third Lula administration.

Between 2010 and 2011, the then Minister of Education, Fernando Haddad, made 97 flights between Brasília and São Paulo accompanied by his wife and minor daughter, in addition to other authorities. He made 130 trips on official aircraft in that period, 46 of which were exclusively to São Paulo. In 2012, Haddad said that there was no irregularity in his transport in official aircraft. “It is my right to go home. What matters is legality.”

Data on FAB jet flights under PT governments were obtained by Deputy Rubens Bueno (PPS-PR), in 2012, through a request for information submitted to the Air Force. At that time, the Freedom of Information Act was not yet in effect. The information was published in the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, in a report by me.

As of 2015, President Dilma Rousseff’s decree (8.432/15) vetoed the use of FAB aircraft to travel to the place of residence of Ministers of State. In January 2020, then President Jair Bolsonaro issued Decree 10,267, which regulates the use of official aircraft. It maintained the ban on flights home on weekends, but left loopholes that allow such trips for security reasons. But there’s always a way. As the blog showed, at least 30 times, from January 2019 to March 2020, ministers from the political core of the Bolsonaro government gave a “way” of using official aircraft to travel to their home state on weekends or to return to work on Monday.