Youngest son of the former president, Jair Renan () completed a year in office in the Chamber of () with a lackluster performance in plenary and rare interactions with other parliamentarians during debates, despite being present in 90% of the 93 sessions held by the House. Most of the absences were concentrated in November, the month in which his father was arrested in Brasília.
On the occasions when he used the microphone, he reproduced his father’s clichés and discussed issues associated with Bolsonarism. One of the bills he authored, for example, establishes sanctions for anyone who commits any “act of vandalism against the National, State and Municipal Flags” in Balneário.
As a councilor, he also defended that the national anthem be sung weekly by students in the municipal school system, and not just once a month, as proposed by the city hall in a bill that created the Pátria na Escola program.
He also indicated the inclusion of an amendment in another Executive text so that the vaccination of children within schools would only be carried out with the express consent of parents or guardians.
“It is essential that the State acts with respect for the rights of parents and legal guardians, ensuring them the power to decide on the health of their minor children”, says an excerpt from the justification presented by Jair Renan’s office.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, then-president Jair Bolsonaro discouraged vaccination and defended ineffective medicines for the disease, such as chloroquine.
The surname won Jair Renan in the 2024 polls and, the times he took to the stand, he used rhetoric similar to that of the former president. On March 19, he said: “If you think they’re going to shut me up, you’re very mistaken. I’m going to continue bothering the Balneário Camboriú system, okay? And the snake is going to smoke now.”
At the time, he came out in defense of the then federal deputy (PL-SP), who the previous day announced his stay in the USA and leave from his mandate in Brasília. Jair Renan said he was there to react to disrespectful speeches by other councilors about the situation. The speech on the platform did not exceed 3 minutes.
Although the family — in 2022, almost 75% of the city’s electorate voted for Bolsonaro in the second round of elections against (PT) —, the municipal administration remained in the hands of (PSD). But a PL wing campaigned for Pavan, who is also .
At the beginning of the year, Jair Renan voted against the increase in IPTU proposed by the mayor, but also endorsed other proposals that came from the Executive, such as the regulation of involuntary hospitalization of people with dependence on psychoactive substances. The councilor was the rapporteur of the text and defended the proposal in the House.
In the “indications” that the councilor made to the city hall — which are suggestions for improvements in the municipality without the force of law —, he included requests for the Municipal Guard to intensify its patrols in certain parts of the city. In one of the letters, he claimed that “the constant presence of homeless people, who travel with carts and debris, compromises the safe use of the cycle lane and the movement of cyclists”.
But the majority of requests are related to the city’s care, such as unblocking drains, repairing asphalt and sidewalks, cleaning posts, walls and benches that are subject to graffiti.
AGAINST TRIBUTE TO VICTIM OF DICTATORSHIP
In the relationship with peers in the Legislature, there were moments of tension, especially with PT councilor Eduardo Zanatta. In June, he was the only vote against the PT member’s bill establishing Municipal Democracy Day on March 3. The date refers to the death of Higino João Pio, the first democratically elected mayor in Balneário and later a victim of the military dictatorship.
During the session, Jair Renan said that he defended democracy and that “I have nothing against Higino’s family”, but, also at the microphone, he declared that “the truth is on our side, and not on the Truth Commission, which was created by”.
He also criticized posters present at the ceremony in memory of the former mayor, held months earlier, in which people demonstrated against the amnesty for those convicted of the coup acts of January 8, 2023, in Brasília.
“As we saw here in the solemn session in March, the extreme left hijacked the agenda”, said Jair Renan, who was prosecuted by the STF (Supreme Federal Court) for an attempted coup d’état in 2022.
Before the clash with Zanatta, the former president’s son had already voted against a request from councilor Jade Martins (MDB) that rectifies the record about the former mayor’s death in the minutes of the 1969 Legislative sessions, clarifying that he was murdered by the military regime at the time.
On February 19, 1969, Pio was taken by Federal Police agents to give testimony at the 5th Naval District, in , and remained in the custody of the Brazilian State until March 3, when he died in prison.
In the official version at the time, suicide was alleged, which was later denied following an investigation by the National Truth Commission and the State Truth Commission concluded in 2014. In 2024, as determined by the CNJ (National Council of Justice), Pio’s death certificate was rectified.
