The president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, with representative Daniel Silveira, at the presidential palace of Planalto, a few days ago. Photo: AFP
Bolsonarism has a new hero: Daniel Silveira, the anti-system deputy who accompanied Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro who opened a new front in the Judiciary by pardoning his conviction for anti-democratic actions.
Who is this 39-year-old former police officer who went from being a controversial member of the parliamentary “lower clergy” to being received with honor at the Planalto Presidential Palace after being convicted in April in more than eight years imprisonment?
Undisciplined, fervently anti-left and threatening in front of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), his favorite target and the same person who sentenced him, Silveira began to be recognized in 2018.
Tall, muscular and dull, he left the Rio de Janeiro police force to run deputy and caused outrage when at a street rally he tore up a sign honoring leftist former councilwoman Marielle Franco, whose murder caused international condemnation.
Despite this, he was elected deputy with 31,000 votes for the Social Liberal Party in the same anti-surge system which led Bolsonaro to the presidency in 2018.
Supporters of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro expressed their support for him at a march in Rio de Janeiro on May 1. Photo: AFP
Loyalty to the president
Without access to the far-right president’s most intimate core, Silveira, who usually wears a metal pin with two pistols on his lapel, went on to present himself as one of the Bolsonarists most in line with the rules. in ideology.
His case before the STF began in February 2021, a day after Judge Alexandre de Moraes determined his incarceration by appearing on a video threat to court.
The “youtuber” deputy wants “people to enter the STF, grab De Moraes by the neck, shake the egg’s head and throw it in the trash.”
He also defended AI-5, one of the most repressive actions of the last military dictatorship (1964-1985), which repealed certain constitutional guarantees.
The judge of the Supreme Court of Brazil, Alexandre de Moraes, in an image file. Photo: EFE
Sorry and controversy
As his trial progressed, Bolsonaro, who was “heartbroken” to see him incarcerated, proved willing to protect him and when the STF sentenced him on April 20 to eight years and nine months in prison, he forgave her as a “guarantee of freedom”.
Silveira made headlines a few weeks earlier by sleeping one night in Congress to avoid the police putting an electronic anklet on him.
“I want to see how far someone’s rudeness goes with other powers,” he challenges.
The deputy already has a track record as undisciplined: as a police officer, he accumulated 60 penalties for disobedience and misconduct in six years, according to the Brazilian press.
After the pardon, Bolsonaro’s followers and allies tried to martyr the deputy for freedom of expression. Eduardo Bolsonaro, the president’s son, compared the sentence to an “injustice” experienced by Jesus Christ.
“In the past criminals were amnesty, now innocent people are amnesty,” Bolsonaro declared, in an action in Planalto in which Silveira, smiling, photographed himself holding a framed copy. of the pardon decree as if it were a trophy.
Recognition also came to him in the House of Deputies, where he was appointed member of the most important commission, the Constitution and Justice, pending clarification on whether the pardon also prevents the loss of mandate.
Representatives investigated
Silveira is no exception to the hemicycle: of the 513 deputies, at least one hundred were the target of investigationsaccording to data from the site Congresso em Foco.
His newfound popularity was also noticed on the street on Sunday, when he was applauded by dozens of supporters at a Bolsonarista demonstration in Rio de Janeiro.
Masks by Jair Bolsonaro and Daniel Silveira, at a march of government supporters in Rio de Janeiro, on Sunday. Photo: EFE
“Silver has more symbolic than real importance in Bolsonaroism,” André Cesar, an analyst at Hold consultancy, told AFP.
In the pardon, Bolsonaro simultaneously ignited his wrist at the STF, which opened several investigations against him. The president has repeatedly accused his judges – without evidence – of working for the return of the left, promoting election fraud through electronic ballot boxes.
The STF has so far not decided on complaints of various parties against presidential pardon.
For César, the amnesty was “a marketing move” for Bolsonaro’s “most ideological” base, five months before seeking re-election.
“This is an opportunity to divert attention from the real problems of the country,” said political scientist Paulo Calmon, from the University of Brasilia.
“Before, it was the pandemic; now, a disastrous economy,” with very fast inflation and a pyrrhic growth forecast of 1.1% in 2022, he added.
Source: AFP
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Source: Clarin
