By WALNICE NOGUEIRA GALVÃO*
The Bolsonaro family's passage through Alvorada left a scenario of scorched earth
Emus in flocks have inhabited the garden of Palácio da Alvorada since its inauguration in 1960. They eat snakes and keep the lawn safe from harmful animals such as scorpions, tarantulas or salamanders. Anything that crawls and stings, inoculating venom.
Accustomed to being treated well, they never imagined that an unsuspecting person would replace their special rations with leftover food. If these went to waste, they would do some good by engorging the birds. The gesture was acclaimed by the general gratitude of the patriots. And it gave what it gave. Thus fed, the rheas were attacked by obesity, and two of them have already died..
The gossip says that it was revenge for the peck that one of them dealt when seeing a box of hydrochloroquine displayed in hostile hands. If they refused the infamous uselessness that claimed so many lives, would they allow their “special ration” to be suppressed without kicking?
In the same and unfortunate Alvorada garden, a water mirror was home to fish donated by Hiroito, Emperor of Japan, many years ago. Carps, champions of ornamental aquatic beings, dyed in gold and crimson, stand out for their fluttering fins. There, his home was the target of coins of small value, thrown by tourists.
At the time of the xepa, when the lights go out, in the rampant looting and looting that set up a scorched earth scenario, another unbelievable story emerges, in a saga of unbelievable stories.
It appears, according to the protagonists of the case, that the first lady decided, on the last day, to donate the coins from the carp pond to the evangelical pastor who was a kind of “Butler of the Palace”, administrator of Alvorada. The destination would be a charitable work of his church. The coins were collected and handed over to the shepherd – and the entire shoal was decimated in the process. The amount of money thus collected was estimated at a measly 2 reais. If I knew in time, I would gladly pay the ransom for the poor things. The first lady has officially declared that she is not responsible, but the company that removed the coins.
Now we come to the birds. In the house of the Minister of Justice of the previous government and Secretary of Security of the DF of this one, where the detailed and instructive draft of the declaration of a coup d'état was found, the police also found about 60 birds, ranging from the beautiful tie- blood to the cardinal. All of them birds with pedigree, either by song, or plumage, or both.
From surprise to surprise, we now know that the authority's residence is the headquarters of a wild bird trading company, officially registered in the name of his mother. They don't even respect mothers, the reader says to himself.
Finally – at least for the time being, who knows what's still to come – a piece of news about hippopotamuses. It is also a horror story, but this one, fortunately, in the land of others.
At the height of his glory and power, Pablo Escobar, in one of his usual bouts of megalomania, decided to install a zoo full of illegal animals, including two couples of hippos. After their owner was killed, the hippopotamuses went wild.
Extremely dangerous animals, due to their size and amazing speed, they are sleek, shiny fireballs that nothing can stand up to. Herbivores and aquatic, they spend their days in the water, grazing the herbs that thrive at the bottom. Those who travel through rivers or lakes only see the top of the skullcaps, as if they were stones to cross the waters. But they don't like people and attack humans with fury, tearing them apart with their powerful fangs.
They reproduced: from 4 to 120 and became a threat. They trample crops, tear down fences and destroy more than Attila. But no one dares to hurt them, not least because it is prohibited by law. And there is the herd of hippos, the largest in the world outside Africa, now offered as a gift by Colombia to anyone who wants it. Some countries are already voluntary, but only accept a few. It will take a lot of country to, with combined efforts, reach 120.
And who remembers that Papa Donald Trump modified a law to allow his two youngsters, repeat hunters, to bring from Africa the heads of lions and elephants with which they boasted in videos on the networks?
*Walnice Nogueira Galvão is Professor Emeritus at FFLCH at USP. She is the author, among other books, of Reading and rereading (Sesc\Ouro over Blue).
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