Note on Bolsonarism in Goiás
By CILEIDE ALVES*
It has the BBB brand (bullet, Bible and ox), representing public safety, evangelicals and agribusiness, the political support base of President Jair Bolsonaro, but this became even more evident in Goiás in this tense week of protests with a coup bias sponsored by the Palácio do Highland. The proximity to Brasília, the socio-political conservatism of the population and the economy rooted in agribusiness explain what happened, but a closer focus reveals a detailed picture of this history.
President of the Federation of Agriculture of the State of Goiás (Faeg), federal deputy José Mário Schreiner (DEM), representative of the ox in the BBB brand, published a video on social networks on Monday night (6) with images of the traffic of trucks at the entrance to Brasilia, all duly dressed for the next day's demonstration. A few hours later, hundreds of trucks broke through the Military Police blockade and occupied part of the Esplanada dos Ministérios, from where they would only start to leave on Thursday afternoon (9), after the publication of Bolsonaro's letter retreating from attacks on the Supreme Court. Federal (STF).
The banners on trucks parked in Brasília, many of them with anti-democratic messages, left company marks visible. The press identified at least 19 trucks with the names and logos of two agribusiness companies from Goiás: 17 from Grão Dourado, a grain storage, industrialization and packaging company, from Piracanjuba, and two from Dez Alimentos, a tomato processing company, in Morrinhos .
A photo by journalist Vinícius Sassine, published in FSP, on September 8, shows a Dez Alimentos truck with a giant banner that reads: “Pres. Bolsonaro, cancer has a name: STF, TSE, Federal Senate, Chamber of Deputies, Zé Dirceu, Lula, Dilma, Gleisi, Omar Azis, Renan Calheiros, Randolfe, Pacheco, Lira, Rodrigo Maia, Alcolumbre, etc.” Industry director and president of the Rural Union of Morrinhos, Arthur Chiari, published before the demonstrations posts in WhatsApp groups photos of a bus hired by the Rural Union to take protesters from Morrinhos to Brasília. The Chiari family is a large rural producer in the south of Goiás. It produces 7 liters of milk per day, has one of the largest irrigated areas in the state and elite cattle, with a genetic improvement laboratory, in addition to the tomato processing industry.
Agribusiness also gave a helping hand to roadblocks in 15 Brazilian states, judging by the information provided by the president of the Autonomous Cargo Transport Unions of Goiás (Sinditac-GO), Vantuir Rodrigues, to the Poder 360 website. participating. None of this agenda interests us. Who is stopped is the agribusiness. The agribusiness that wants to dismiss the STF, which is holding a pro-government demonstration. Only they are using the category as a scapegoat, ”he said.
Deputies João Campos (Republicans), Glaustin da Fokus (PSC) and Senator Luiz do Carmo (MDB) – the “b” in the Bible – pushed their religious bases towards the demonstrations, as can be seen from their social networks. Francisco Júnior (PSD), also from the religious group, did not declare public support for the protest, but released a video praising the value of freedom on Independence Day. It is certainly no coincidence that freedom was the motto of Bolsonarist speeches.
Bolsonaro himself contributed to the mobilization in Goiás, given the strength of his base in the state and proximity to Brasília. At the end of August he spent two days in Goiânia at events at the Army's Special Command, where he spent the night, and at the 1st Fraternal Meeting of Evangelical Leaders of Goiás, which brought together the main pastors of the largest evangelical denominations in the state. It was at this meeting that Bolsonaro said, for the first time, that he would only leave power “imprisoned, dead or with victory” and that he did not consider the first hypothesis. Two days later, on August 30, he gave an exclusive interview to a radio station in the church of Pastor César Augusto, one of the Brazilian religious leaders who recorded a video calling evangelicals to the demonstration on September 7 and which appeared alongside the president on the platform on Avenida Paulista.
Closing the BBB mark, in the part of the bullet, are the deputies Vitor Hugo (PSL), Magda Mofatto (PL) and again João Campos, who is a delegate of the Civil Police, in addition to an evangelical pastor. Vitor Hugo's performance needs no introduction, as he is one of Bolsonaro's closest deputies, but Mofatto's is worth mentioning. After starring in a video in June armed with a rifle in a helicopter announced that she would arrest the criminal Lázaro Barbosa, this time the deputy drove a truck to announce her departure for the protest in Brasília. It is worth remembering that during the mobilization for these acts, Vitor Hugo brought federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, the president's third son, to Goiânia for an event in honor of military police officers.
Finally, there is the group of the quiet ones, politicians who support or supported Bolsonaro, but who retreated in what was the week of the most serious facts in recent history. Among them, Governor Ronaldo Caiado (DEM). In contact with O POPULAR this Friday (10), Caiado refused to answer questions about the events. A national highlight in his times on the tribune of the National Congress for the ferocity of his statements, now Caiado swallows words to avoid getting into trouble with the President of the Republic. In this group are also senator Vanderlan Cardoso (PSD), delegate Waldir Soares (PSL) and José Nelto (Podemos), who says he is independent, but regularly votes with the government.
These political groups emerge as the driving force of Bolsonarism in Goiás, whether due to political convenience, political-ideological affinities and economic interests or a combination of all of these. Regardless of their reasons, they were protagonists in the anti-democratic uprising in the State, which almost plunged the country into institutional chaos.
*Cileide Alves is a journalist and has a master's degree in history from UFG. author of the book Iris Rezende: From student leader to governor (1958/1983).
Extended version of article originally published in the journal The Popular