Marcos Cardoso: "João Alves is worn out"

Sergipe 247 - Journalist Marcos Cardoso analyzes in a post published on his blog on Infonet Portal this Sunday (29) the political trajectory of Mayor João Alves Filho (DEM) and the division caused within his party with the decision to support Eduardo Amorim (PSC) for governor.

João Alves is not the same anymore.

Every living being is born, grows, reproduces, and dies. Right? With biological exceptions, that's how it is. And so it is in political life. Take the example of the fiery wasp José Sarney de Araújo Costa, a record holder in political longevity, who at 84 years old has just announced his retirement. But it's been a while since he last buzzed so loudly. Sarney assumed his first term as a federal deputy in 1955, at the age of 25. He was governor and twice senator for Maranhão, president of the Republic, three times senator for Amapá, and three times president of the Senate. But that's over.

Old age is relentless. Time hasn't yet affected the political life of João Alves Filho, a loyal ally of Sarney, so profoundly, but it's beginning to show signs. If not interfering with his physical and mental health, which seems to be in perfect order for a 73-year-old man (his birthday is on July 3rd), it is certainly working to wear him down politically. It's the natural process of material fatigue, as they say in engineering.

Let's see: João was easily elected mayor of Aracaju in 2012 and thought that this victory would catapult him to the government of Sergipe two years later, fulfilling his long-cherished dream. Things didn't go as planned; the Aracaju City Hall today has a much larger dimension and complexity than 40 years ago, when he was mayor by appointment of the governor and with the acceptance of the military government.

The decision to remain as mayor and not step down to run for governor was decisively influenced by his family, as his wife, Senator Maria do Carmo, and his daughter, Ana Alves Mendonça, expressed their opposition to his resignation, which could sound to voters like a greedy adventure.

But João's continued tenure as mayor may have been a sign from the political gods that he is no longer the unbeatable candidate his followers still believe he is. Moreover, the debacle of 2006, when Marcelo Déda defeated him even while in office, had already convinced him that times had changed.

Now, João watches his base fracture when federal deputy Mendonça Prado, his son-in-law and political protégé, decides not to follow him in the adventure of supporting the gubernatorial candidacy of Senator Eduardo Amorim, brother of his former son-in-law Edvan Amorim, a businessman and owner of a bunch of small parties.

Mendonça, who would like to be part of the ticket headed by Governor Jackson Barreto, rebelled against what he considers his father-in-law's folly, even though he knows that he is trying to save Maria do Carmo's reelection to the Senate. The senator is expected to run for reelection as part of a ticket with Eduardo and, in a way, fulfilling a directive from the national leadership of the DEM party.

However, Mendonça, supported by his wife, became the fiercest and most scathing critic of the schemes hatched by the multifaceted businessman Edvan. There is an inside knowledge of who this eminent quasi-politician is. Mendonça is the son-in-law, and Edvan was the son-in-law and is the father of João and Maria's grandchildren.

Mendonça doesn't mince words when accusing him of illicit enrichment through corruption and blackmail. And, in doing so, he has grown politically, because he conveys to society that they are not cut from the same cloth, even though they come from the same kitchen.

On Friday morning, during George Magalhães' radio program, Mendonça received the help he needed from businessman Walter Franco to publicly prove Edvan's ingratitude towards his former father-in-law and his modus operandi. The program broadcast a report aired on TV Atalaia in 2008, which made public a telephone recording made by the Federal Police during the investigations of the ill-fated Operation Navalha, in which Edvan talks with the advisor to the Court of Auditors, Flávio Conceição, about the extortions against two municipal bodies in Aracaju. And Edvan asks him not to say anything to Dr. João.

The dialogue reproduced by TV Atalaia reveals the schemes that Flávio Conceição was capable of hatching to penetrate Marcelo Déda's government with his corrupt scheme. In a casual chat with businessman Edvan Amorim, the councilor reveals his stratagem: to request a "management inspection" at Emsurb and the Aracaju Health Department.

He was looking for the governor's Achilles' heel during his five-year tenure as mayor. And what "scandal" occurred during Déda's administration, if not that poorly explained agreement between Emsurb and the Health Department for weeding "the cobblestones" of the health centers?

Flávio suggested to Edvan Amorim that he would "go for the jugular" of Marcelo Déda by reactivating the process. This, it is presumed, would give him bargaining power against the resistant governor. And he would have the stage set for the blackmail: either he would turn a blind eye to one of my operatives acting freely in his government, or I would undo his reputation as an honest administrator, discrediting his municipal management. Vampire-like behavior. Except that the Razor cut the blackmailer's own jugular.

If he had delayed a little longer and succeeded in his goal, Flávio Conceição would have his feet firmly planted where the scheme was most interested: in the Infrastructure and Health Secretariats.

Moreover, the Health Secretariat, once managed by Eduardo Amorim and from which he departed, as Mendonça Prado never tires of repeating, is the subject of a lawsuit that is currently under seal at the Supreme Federal Court.

Mendonça Prado emerges strengthened from this episode, while his father-in-law, João Alves Filho, is more damaged. A sign of the times.