A (useless) lesson in opportunism

By Eric Nepomuceno, from Journalists for Democracy

This time, there was no jet ski ride, no speedboat ride next to a girl in a tight bikini, no motorcycle ride, and no race car ride.

Unlike what he did when there were catastrophes in São Paulo and Bahia, states governed by enemies (like all psychopaths, he doesn't have adversaries: he has enemies), Jair Messias returned from his trip to Moscow and Budapest straight to Rio. 

He waited for the sky to clear and then flew by helicopter to Petrópolis, which had been devastated by floods and landslides that left at least 130 dead and more than two hundred missing.

Alongside Cláudio Castro, the Bolsonaro-supporting governor, and a retinue that included, among others, the particularly reactionary pajama-clad generals Braga Netto and Augusto Heleno, as well as the ultra-talkative and super-sycophantic president of Caixa Econômica Federal (whose name doesn't deserve mention), Jair Messias once again gave ample and resounding demonstrations of his irremediable incompetence.

After stating the obvious – “we saw images of war” – he said that it's impossible to prevent all tragedies, like the one that just happened in Petrópolis. He mentioned that it's difficult to achieve what's necessary to prevent accidents like the one the city faced because the resources exist, they're in the budget, but they are scarce. He promised to send money to Petrópolis. And he took the opportunity to ask God that no others occur.

Well, as for prevention, there have been specifically prepared technical reports for at least five years warning of the high risk in several inhabited areas of the city. Indeed, precisely where the tragedy was most severe. And no government – ​​national, state, or municipal – has done anything about it.

Photos and videos circulating in the mainstream press and on social media show people digging with shovels and often with their bare hands, searching for survivors and the dead. There are numerous complaints that too few firefighters were sent to the devastated areas. 

It's worth reiterating that Governor Cláudio Castro, who intends to run for reelection, spent less than half of the budget allocated for disaster prevention last year. The rest was used for other purposes.

Regarding the complaint about the lack of firefighters, he came up with a bizarre and perverse explanation: “It’s no use having too many people. There’s a serious traffic problem. The place is still unstable. It’s no use putting two, three, four thousand people there.”

Rubens Bomtempo, who is serving his fourth term as mayor of Petrópolis, spent less on preventative measures in 2021 than on advertising and lavish Christmas lights.

In such company, Jair Messias will hardly achieve the true and only purpose of his trip: to gain points in his ongoing election campaign.