The new Minister of Justice, announced this Tuesday (13), is little known by politicians outside Bahia. Congressmen linked to the public security agenda heard by the Sheet They said they didn’t know what to expect from him.
He was Attorney General of Bahia during the PT administration in the state. At the beginning of the Lula government, he was special secretary for Legal Affairs of the Presidency of the Republic, the main post in the area in the Planalto. Between leaving the government and being chosen for the ministry, he headed the legal department at Petrobras.
The report spoke to politicians from various parties, some under reserved conditions, and there were no objective reports about the new minister. None of them could explain, for example, whether Lula’s chosen one is more progressive or more hard-line on issues such as drugs and prison policy.
Bahian government officials describe the next head of Justice as a person with high executive and articulation capacity. He will take over from , who left the Lula administration last week.
Senator Alessandro Vieira (MDB-SE), rapporteur for the CPI (Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry) on organized crime, said that the new minister is not a name in the area of public security and that it is necessary to wait for his first actions at the head of the department to evaluate.
“We need to wait for the first steps, but he is not a name with a reputation in the area of public security, although he served as a public prosecutor in Bahia,” said the senator. “The Public Security agenda does not receive the attention of the Lula government, unfortunately.”
The rapporteur of the PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) that increases the Union’s responsibilities in the area of public security, deputy Mendonça Filho (União-PE), mentioned Lima e Silva’s trajectory as a positive point, but said he does not know him.
“I have no idea what to say about his experience and performance. I don’t know him personally, and I also don’t have any deeper assessment,” he said.
Mendonça Filho also mentioned an episode from 2016, when then-president Dilma Rousseff chose Lima e Silva for the . He spent only 14 days in office at the time, after the STF decided that members of the Public Ministry cannot work in the Executive.
“I acted to fight the appointment because he hadn’t left the Public Ministry role, and he couldn’t accumulate. Just, period, it wasn’t anything more than that”, said Mendonça Filho.
“We are tired of saying that it has to be a public security technician. Lewandowski didn’t work because he doesn’t know the practice. Taking a guy who is a lawyer… won’t work,” said deputy Alberto Fraga (-DF), coordinator of the Parliamentary Front for Public Security.
“I don’t know him”, declared the leader of the opposition in , (PL-RN), when questioned by Sheet about what he thought of the nomination.
The senator (PSD-BA), president of the Senate Constitution and Justice Committee, praised the person chosen by the head of government.
“He is one of those who delivers his work on time. He left a mark of work in Bahia. Today he is a person who is very trusted by President Lula. “He doesn’t lose to anyone in legal preparation,” said Alencar. The senator also said that the new minister has good traffic in Brasília.
PT leader in the Chamber, Lindbergh Farias (RJ), stated that Lima e Silva has a good relationship with the bench and has a more combative profile, which will be useful for the government in an election year.
“He comes with the profile of the moment, with a more security approach. He was attorney general of Bahia. This year we will need this debate, because a lot happens and the government does not capitalize, there are several actions by the Revenue and the PF in the fight against organized crime”, stated Lindbergh.
The PT leader compared the new minister to Lewandowski: “He was an excellent minister and highly respected, but he had a profile. Wellington has a profile more of security, of going out ‘banging the drum’, showing what is being done at an important moment.”
