First Lady Rosângela da Silva, , flew on a FAB (Brazilian Air Force) plane, in October, to Rio de Janeiro, for an agenda that included a visit to the . The samba school paid homage in Sapucaí during Carnival. When contacted, Janja did not speak out until the publication of this text.
The ministers (Racial Equality) and Luciana Santos (Science) were on the same flight and accompanied Janja on the visit to the samba school. The information was first published by Metrópoles and confirmed by UOL.
Janja and the ministers also participated in an event on the environment. In the afternoon, after visiting the Academicos de Niterói shed, they attended the launch of the 2027 Ocean Decade Conference. The first lady participated as a “special envoy of the COP”.
The first lady took six advisors on the flight, including a photographer. The group returned to Brasília on another FAB flight on the same day, October 6, at around 5:10 pm.
By decree, it is not illegal for Janja to board the aircraft, as the flight was carrying state ministers. When contacted, the Ministry of Science and Technology stated that the minister’s official agenda “had as its central focus the strengthening of Brazilian scientific protagonism in the preservation of the oceans”. The folder does not mention the visit to the samba school shed. Janja and Anielle’s advisors did not respond until the publication of this text.
The flight was requested by the Ministry of Science and Technology. In justification, the folder only cites the conference on oceans. In the document sent to the FAB, there are no references to the visit to the shed. The 2020 decree, signed by former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), determines that the authority must prove the reason for the trip and record the dates, times and who will accompany it.
The decree also defines a priority order for the use of FAB planes. Firstly, there are cases of medical emergencies; second, when there are security reasons; finally, business trips. “Whenever possible, the aircraft will be shared by more than one of the authorities, if the interval between flights to the same destination is less than two hours”, says the decree.
The samba school’s tribute became the target of opposition lawsuits in court. Even before Acadêmicos de Niterói entered Sapucaí, the Novo party had asked the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) to bar the group’s parade and prohibit broadcasting.
The TSE denied the injunction. However, court ministers said that the assessment was not a “safe conduct” and that the case could be analyzed again.
In Sapucaí, Lula was exalted and there was mockery against Bolsonaro. The former president was provocatively depicted as a clown stuck with a damaged ankle bracelet on one of the school’s floats. Bolsonaro also appeared amid crosses with the number of deaths from Covid-19 in Brazil: more than 700 thousand.
Planalto demonstrated the day after the parade. In a statement, Secom said that there was no government interference in the choice or development of the plot. The text also argued that the public money offered to samba schools was not created now.
