Who is the deputy bothering Raquel Lyra in Pernambuco – 01/10/2024 – Power

Distant from governor Raquel Lyra (PSDB), the president of the Legislative Assembly of Pernambuco, Álvaro Porto (PSDB), belongs to a traditional political family from the southern countryside of the state. The parliamentarian is seen by allies as a man with firm positions and by opponents as untimely.

Raquel and Álvaro Porto are from the same party, but this did not stop the political and party relationship from deteriorating. The two had successive clashes throughout 2023, with defeats for the governor in the Legislature and the trigger for the anticipation of Álvaro’s re-election as president of the Assembly.

A civil police officer, his political stronghold is the city of Canhotinho, 210 km from Recife and with 24 thousand inhabitants, where he was mayor, as were his father and nephew, who succeeded him.

Álvaro entered politics under the influence of his father, Lourival Mendonça, and his brother, Carlos Porto, who was a state deputy between 1979 and 1990, before going to the State Court of Auditors.

Currently, the person who governs the city is Sandra Paes, the deputy’s wife. In other words, the Porto family has been in power in Canhotinho since 2005.

The political group expanded its bases in 2020, when Alvinho Porto, Álvaro’s son, was elected mayor of Quipapá, a city neighboring Canhotinho, with 18 thousand inhabitants. He resigned from his position in December, but the new mayor, a former deputy, is an ally of the political group.

The Porto family is also present at the Court of Auditors of the State of Pernambuco, where Eduardo Porto, nephew of the president of the Legislative Assembly, is one of the advisors.

He was approved for the position last May, replacing his own father, Carlos Porto, in an arrangement that involved Álvaro. The deputies also decided that the choices would be made via secret ballot, which displeased the government.

Eduardo’s approval for the TCE was one of the reasons for Raquel’s frustration with the president of the Assembly. This is because the governor preferred a woman for the position, state deputy Débora Almeida (PSDB).

Another moment of discord was in the vote on the second vacancy open for the TCE, in May, when parliamentarians chose the then state deputy Rodrigo Novaes, from PSB, who is in the opposition.

Behind the scenes, Álvaro needed to ally himself with the party to gain strength in the vote for the presidency of the Assembly. Still in 2022, after the general elections, he signed an agreement with the PSB to receive votes from deputies in exchange for supporting Novaes for the seat on the Court of Auditors.

The alliance with the PSB strengthened the President of the Assembly to avoid a possible articulation by Raquel in favor of another deputy, Antônio Moraes (PP), considered her favorite in the Legislature.

Álvaro irritated her by going, in December 2022, to a farewell party for then-governor Paulo Câmara (PSB). As the governor’s candidate was not viable internally, Álvaro was the only candidate.

Deputies often praise him and say that he gives protagonism to the collegiate, avoids making decisions alone and indulges his colleagues, including with gifts brought from the countryside, such as shoes and cheese, and expanding positions in the offices. He also holds get-togethers with deputies at his home in Canhotinho.

Originally from the region where President Lula (PT) was born, Álvaro is a right-wing politician. Last year, his nephew, Felipe Porto, who succeeded him as mayor of Canhotinho, was appointed by Lula’s Minister of Ports and Airports, Silvio Costa Filho, to the Infraero office in Pernambuco.

In 2010, former vice-president Marco Maciel, from the extinct DEM, received the most votes in Canhotinho, with Álvaro as electoral leader, in a state at the time dominated by the left of Lula and Eduardo Campos (PSB), then governor. The municipality was one of the few where Maciel received the most votes — in the state, he was defeated.

After leaving Canhotinho City Hall, Álvaro was elected state deputy in 2014, in a contest in which his brother, then deputy Eduardo Porto, lost. Despite this, there was no family tremor in the relationship between the two at the time. In opposition to the PSB, Álvaro was re-elected in 2018 and in 2022.

Álvaro also has a good relationship with the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL). The deputy from Alagoas has land for raising cattle in Quipapá, one of the cities dominated by the political group from Pernambuco.

One of the fears of the governor’s allies is that Álvaro will try to take command of the Executive. This is because, until 2026, he will be second in the state’s line of succession, as he articulated the anticipation of the election of the Board of Directors for the 2025/26 biennium to November, when he was the only candidate.

Álvaro’s allies rule out the possibility of him trying to take over the Executive, but admit that the anticipation of re-election was due to fear that Raquel would launch a candidate in 2025 and use the state machine to win votes in the Assembly.

Another focus of intrigue was in the 2022 elections. Raquel signaled to allies, even in the first round, that Álvaro would not be campaigning for her and complained because the deputy stood on a platform with candidate Miguel Coelho (União Brasil) in the backlands.

The president of the Assembly claims to supporters that he took the stage because the political group from the city of Carnaíba supported him and Miguel at the same time. He also remembers that Canhotinho was the city that gave the most votes in percentage terms to Raquel in the first round.

In the election, the governor determined that Álvaro’s campaign would receive R$1 million from the PSDB fund. For this reason, the governor’s secretaries say he was ungrateful.

In 2023, Raquel suffered defeat in the Assembly also in the vote to veto the Budget project. Other proposals of interest to the Executive were approved by the House, but with changes. Parliamentarians complain about the lack of dialogue in the proposals.

The tension reaches both parties, the PSDB. At the end of November, Raquel appointed businessman Fred Loyo, one of the financiers of her 2022 campaign, to succeed her as party president in Pernambuco. Álvaro alleged a lack of dialogue from the governor.

Also in November, during the launch of a state security plan, he also said that, “to face criminals, police officers cannot go with a bouquet of flowers” and mentioned an episode in which, a week earlier, in Recife, police officers were punished after killing two men during an action in the Detran neighborhood.

The government opened investigations into the police action and initially the PM itself detained the police officers. Backstage, Raquel classified Álvaro’s speech as unnecessary.