The senator (-RJ) stated this Monday (8) that the president (PT) appears to be “the head of” given his stance against the United States government’s decision to classify the São Paulo faction, in addition to the Rio de Janeiro faction, as terrorist organizations.
“[A classificação] It’s the greatest opportunity we have to put an end to this parallel power, which is what they are. So there doesn’t have to be tolerance, there has to be unity on our part. Then you look at the president of Brazil, he thinks the opposite. It seems he is the head of the PCC. Many people are starting to think that,” said Flávio.
The statements took place during a lunch between the presidential candidate and Grupo Voto, an organization that brings together women entrepreneurs, at the Palácio Tangará hotel, in the south of São Paulo.
Flávio gave greater emphasis, during his speech, to public security and the economy. He attributed the feeling of insecurity in the cities to the PT administration and defended changes in the sentencing regime to keep those who commit violent crimes in prison for longer.
“The PT governments came with a line of extrication. We need a line that combats impunity, because that was the consequence of the PT governments,” said the senator. “All of us [estamos] here suffering from the street, everyone is scared, worried. Imagine who doesn’t have the means to have an armored car, to have a security guard, or to live in a condominium, which is the vast majority of the Brazilian people”, he stated.
Flávio criticized the territorial control imposed by criminal factions in the country, citing the two organizations, but without making reference to militias that also dominate peripheral regions of urban centers, especially in the senator’s state.
The federal government disagrees with the classification of the two factions as terrorists, on the grounds that it would open gaps for US military actions that would threaten Brazilian sovereignty. Lula, when reflecting on the decision, called Flávio “shameless in betraying his country”, criticizing the senator’s trip to Washington to meet with President Donald Trump and Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, two days before the announcement of the American measure.
In front of the audience of businesswomen, Flávio promised to postpone the tax reform, scheduled to take effect in 2027, by at least a year, and stated that he will privatize Correios, among other promises. But he avoided nominating candidates to take over the Ministry of Finance.
The senator did not meet the press at the end of the meeting nor did he make reference to the Master case. He also refused to comment on the decision of the president of the TSE (Superior Electoral Court), minister Kassio Nunes Marques, who, also this Monday, Atlas/Bloomberg pointed out a drop of six percentage points in the senator’s voting intentions in a possible second round against Lula.
