For the governor of Minas Gerais, (new), 60, A is a “question of interpretation”.
By promising to grant pardon to the former president () if he is elected to the Planalto Palace, he relativized the authoritarian regime that prevailed from 1964 to 1985 and said it is up to historians to “discuss it.”
Zema has performed as a presidential candidate and seeks to build a campaign platform. Last week, he was in to know the security program, which strongly overthrew rates of violence, but on charges of abuse. He praised the row policy and said he would be a model for his eventual management.
It also promises a hard spending cut, inspired by NA, but says no need for shock treatment.
Zema also stated that he would not compete for the election against Bolsonaro, but did not rule out his candidacy if one of the former president’s children or wife competed in 2026.
Mr. Did you come back from El Salvador having the country as a model in public safety?
Yes. I visited two communities, talked to dozens of people, and all, without exception, said that life has changed from water to wine since the government began to equate criminal factions to terrorist groups.
Is it possible to transplant this reality to a large country like Brazil?
Fully. If there is a police staff, an army, here we have something proportional, fully viable. What is missing in Brazil is having the courage to put criminals behind bars.
There are complaints against the president for persecuting and arresting opponents. This does not contradict something that mr. defends, freedom of expression?
I advocate freedom of expression and the democratic rule of law. The people there didn’t have that. If someone said something, he would be shot, he was executed. Today they are free to come and go at any time, they are not extorted anymore.
What mr. Do you think the actions that the government has taken in this area, like the security PEC?
It is a PEC that does not solve the problem. What they are doing there is to change the tire of a chicken, a crash. Today, Minas already exchanges information with, Goiás and Rio de Janeiro. Unifying all of Brazil can help with something, but it does not go to the source of the problem, which is to arrest who kills and who steals.
There is rationing of fuels from police vehicles in Minas Gerais today. It is not a contradicted mr. Have traveled to El Salvador using public money?
In Minas we have several crime indicators that show it to be the safest state in Brazil.
Would such spending be such a trip better applied within the state itself?
I stayed there three days, I went with an entourage of six more people and on a career plane. We brought things that will help a lot. In El Salvador there is a law that determines that mobile operators cannot have a sign within prisons. How wonderful it would be if Brazil did it. If I went, it was to improve the public safety of Minas.
Mr. It has a praise posture to the US President, but he has adopted a policy of deporting immigrants, many of them are miners. Mr. Do you agree with that?
Every country has sovereignty. I think we cannot go into matters from other countries. What I am sorry is that Brazil is not the land of the opportunities we could be. If we had terrorists here from other countries, were we going to leave them loose? Not that Brazilians are terrorists there.
About the election, mr. Already put itself as a pre-candidate. Would you leave a candidate against someone from the Bolsonaro family?
I am pleased to see that the right has several options and, the more options, the more chances, unlike the left. I am still confident that President Bolsonaro can have his political rights reconquited and become the candidate. If he goes, surely the right will work together around his name.
What if it’s his son?
Then I think it will be somewhat different. It’s hard to give their opinion right now, it’s very incipient, but I’m still confident in his name.
If Tarcisio is a presidential candidate, mr. Will you keep yours?
It’s all very incipient.
The only one against whom mr. Not a candidate is Jair Bolsonaro, is that it?
It’s all very green yet. I think we have to wait. We have a lot ahead.
If mr. be elected president, would grant pardon to Bolsonaro?
Not granted indulgers to killers and kidnappers here, what they call dictatorship? Now you will not grant?
Mr. Is there no conviction that it was a dictatorship?
I don’t know, I’m not a historian, I never deepened.
Mr. Do you have doubt?
I don’t think so. They had kidnappers and killers who received amnesty, didn’t they? We have to look at the future. When you are doing politics and just trying to attack, decrease your opponents, I think it greatly undermines the progress of management.
Not to have misunderstanding: when mr. It says “I don’t think so,” you think there was no dictatorship or is it because there is no doubt that there was?
I think everything is a matter of interpretation.
What is your interpretation, there was or not dictatorship?
I prefer not to answer, because I think there are different interpretations. And were there terrorists at that time? There was also. So stay there. I think historians have to discuss this. I need to worry today with Minas Gerais.
We can understand, then, that mr. Would I pardon the Bolsonaro?
Yes, it would.
Recently, mr. He changed his way of communicating, has made flashy videos, put Lula as a baby reborn, ate banana with the shell to denounce the discharge of food. Why the change?
In 2015 and 2016, Brazil lived the largest recession in history, caused by the PT. We are seeing the repetition. Before, I was a mere businessman. Now I have a greater responsibility as a governor. I have to show, even to my conscience, that repetition is happening. It is a government that just wants to spend, traveling with a delegation of 200 people out, does not care about interest, still wants more IOF to charge from the productive sector. If I was silent, it would be silent.
But mr. Isn’t you afraid that this tone takes some of your credibility as a serious governor? I see no embarrassment. What the opposition in Minas does to me is much worse. I’ve buried me I don’t know how many times. I think it’s part of the politics game and ends up making people a little more interest.
Mr. He talked a lot about the Lula administration, but there is still a year and a half for the election. Do you believe he can recover popularity?
If his problem was only popularity, he could recover. His problem is execution. This government delivers nothing but inflation, increased interest, taxes and too much events. Every time just ad and no delivery.
Like mr. Want to explore the vulnerable points of the government?
I regret that the government seems to want to just clog the low -income population to help that, help that. What the Brazilian wants is to have dignity, a salary, a proper income, to be able to prosper. The Brazilian is tired of living in alms of the state. It lives because there is no alternative. We have to enable the production and income generation of the Brazilian.
Mr. He quoted the bukele as a safety model. Is Javier Milei a model in the economy?
What is happening in Argentina is still very early, but there is a drastic drop in inflation and is what all responsible economy manuals recommend. It is not printing role that you solve the problems. Argentina is walking the path that will put it again in prosperity. It takes time and often people are immediate, but no country has become developed in 10, 20 years.
Is a shock measure necessary for Brazil?
I don’t think so. If we do gradually here, Brazil advances a lot. We do not need any revolution. We do not have an inflation of 200% per year. We have a high inflation that bothers mainly who earns less. A reduction in public spending, administrative reform, would be very welcome and would help those who earn less.
X-ray | Romeu Zema, 60
Governor of Minas Gerais in the second term, after being reelected in the first round in 2022, is presidential candidate for. Born in Araxá (MG), he is an entrepreneur and owner of the Zema Group.
