Deputy Zucco (-RS) told allies that the only spokespeople on the preventive detention of (PL) are the former first lady and the senator (PL-RJ), one of the former president’s sons.
The initiative is part of a strategy drawn up and sent by the parliamentarian in a WhatsApp group, which brings together opposition parliamentarians, this morning. The report had access to the text sent and signed by the deputy. In it, Zucco says that the moment is “extremely serious, unprecedented and demands maximum responsibility, discipline and unity from everyone.”
Bolsonaro was preventively arrested this morning, at . He is superintendent of the Federal Police in Brasília. The PF decreed preventive detention, under the justification of guaranteeing public order in the face of a vigil called by Flávio.
In the decision, the minister of the (Federal Supreme Court) pointed out the former president’s risk of flight when ordering his arrest. According to the minister, the electronic ankle bracelet that Bolsonaro has been using since July this year was violated in the early hours of the morning. The minister states that this would be an indication that the former president could flee, taking advantage of what would be a movement in front of the condominium in which he lives.
According to Zucco, who is one of Bolsonaro’s main allies in Congress, after the first moment with spontaneous reactions to preventive detention, the group’s strategy needs to change. He stated in the message that today there are only two official spokespeople for the former president and that, from now on, any “public speech, any interview, any more sensitive statement must have their knowledge and consent.”
“It’s not censorship, it’s not rigidity. It’s protection for the president himself and the movement as a whole”, says the deputy.
He states that this is necessary to prevent each group from doing something isolated from the other and demands unity of discourse, speaking of “total centralization”, “coherence in the narrative” and the need for legal guidance “before each public position”. “We need to prevent each group from acting on impulse — one going to the PF, another to the condominium, another recording video in an inappropriate location. This creates noise, dispersion and, above all, can cause legal harm to the president.”
Next, Zucco lists some guidelines to follow. He says that no individual movement should happen from now on, that is, no isolated trips to the PF superintendence or to the condominium where the former president lives; says that it is necessary to organize an expanded meeting this Saturday with the main leaders of the PL and the opposition, saying that it is essential to “align the political, legal and communication strategy”; and does not rule out holding a press conference, suggesting that it take place at the party headquarters in Brasília.
Still in the message, Zucco reinforces that all parliamentarians must await guidance from the legal team before any interview and states that the former president’s defense needs to delimit the real situation of the documentation relating to the arrest, “what is fact and what is narrative” and “whether or not there is any evidence related to the story of the alleged attempt to break the ankle bracelet”.
In the end, the deputy reinforces that this is a moment that “requires maturity, greatness and responsibility”. “We cannot feed adversarial discourse, we cannot create unnecessary facts and we cannot allow communicational chaos to harm President Bolsonaro even more”, he says.
This Saturday morning, allies of the former president said that the vigil would be maintained that night. Representative Bia Kicis (PL-DF), who went to the PF superintendency, but said she still didn’t know if he would change location (initially, it was planned to be in the condominium where Bolsonaro lives).
People who follow the conversations, however, say that there is a fear among allies of the former chief executive that the act will be emptied. According to reports, the leader of the PL in the Chamber, (RJ), is individually looking for each deputy on the bench to map out the day and time that supporters will arrive in the federal capital, to organize an act in defense of Bolsonaro.
The fear is that a protest carried out in a hurry, but emptied, will give the impression of political emptying of the former president after his arrest.
