The Senate summit sent President Jair Bolsonaro (without a party) the message that he took into account the gestures made on Wednesday (24) by the international adviser to the presidency, Filipe Martins, and that he awaits his resignation from the post.
The message was conveyed by Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco (DEM-MG) and other senators to ministers close to Bolsonaro.
According to interlocutors, Bolsonaro was convinced that he will hardly be able to keep his ally in the post and, for the moment, he is looking for a post of advisor at the Esplanada to welcome him.
On Wednesday, in a tense session in which senators demanded the departure of Minister Ernesto Araújo (Foreign Affairs) from the post, Martins was captured by Senate cameras gesturing behind Pacheco’s back.
Joining his thumb to his index finger, he kept the rest of his fingers outstretched and made repetitive movements with his hand next to his jacket.
Senator Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP) drew the attention of those on the scene and said the gestures were obscene.
Martins has been criticized because the gesture is associated with white supremacist movements – and it has a history of using symbols linked to far-right groups.
The assistant rejects any racist connotation in the gesture and states that he was repairing the lapel of the costume.
Pacheco ordered the act to be investigated by Senate police. Although he stressed that it will be up to the investigation to characterize Martins’ conduct, he shot the palace advisor on Thursday (25).
“We cannot have any pre-judgments about the fact, but really, seeing the images, we have identified a gesture that is totally inappropriate for the environment of the Senate,” said Pacheco.
“We want here, once again, to repudiate all acts that involve racism or discrimination of any kind, repudiate any kind of obscene act too, if that was the connotation, in the Senate or outside. . And the Senate is no joke. The Senate is a place of work.
The assessment of Bolsonaro’s advisers is that Martins’ situation – who is already the target of the military wing of the government and parliamentarians linked to agribusiness – was unsustainable after the episode.
According to reports, the scene of Martins gesturing particularly angered Flávio Rocha, who accumulates the heads of Secom (Special Secretariat for Social Communication) and SAE (Secretariat for Strategic Affairs). Due to the structure of the Planalto, the position currently held by Martins responds to Rocha.
Martins’ allies tried to justify that he reacted to the strong criticism leveled at Ernesto during the hearing, but the explanation was deemed insufficient by palace advisers and parliamentarians.
The search for a clearing post to appoint him has been compared in government to the episode involving the current number two of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, Vicente Santini.
Fired from the Civil House by Bolsonaro in January last year after using an FAB plane for a trip to India, Santini was transferred months later in a notice to the Environment Ministry. Recently, he was recalled to the Plateau to be part of Minister Onyx Lorenzoni’s team.
Disciple of Olavo de Carvalho, Filipe Martins is a representative of the ideological wing of the government and considered one of the architects of the foreign policy led by Chancellor Ernesto Araújo.
He accompanies Bolsonaro on virtually all agendas involving foreign officials and has defended Ernesto’s new direction in the Foreign Office: antagonism with China and automatic alignment with the United States of former President Donald Trump; adoption of an ultra-conservative agenda in international forums and support for Israel on issues related to the conflict with the Palestinians.
Among Bolsonaro’s helpers, the situation in which Filipe Martins finds himself is seen as a step prior to Ernesto’s departure from the government.
The chancellor is facing a frying process, and his stay at the Esplanada today is contested by Pacheco, by the mayor, Arthur Lira (PP-AL) and by a group of senators, agro-leaders. industry and businessmen.
Ernesto’s anchor in the government remains the deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PSL-SP), son of the President of the Republic with a strong influence in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
But the bottom line is that the coalition that has formed against Ernesto is so large that Bolsonaro will have no other way out than to fire him.
According to interlocutors, however, the process of replacing Ernesto should take longer, as he occupies a position of the utmost importance in the government structure.
The trend, they say, is that Bolsonaro will lead a selection process for the new chancellor before attacking Ernesto do Itamaraty.