Once upon a time, there was a CPIzza?
A good fisherman first catches small fish (lambari), which then become bait for large freshwater fish (traíra).
At just 35 years old, Congressman Odair Cunha (PT/MG) has unintentionally landed the biggest role of his public life. As rapporteur of the Cachoeira CPI (Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry), Cunha could become a first-rate parliamentarian in the National Congress or bury his political biography once and for all, becoming the gravedigger of a CPI that arouses great hopes and expectations in Brazilian society.
What's at stake is uncovering one of the biggest political and economic extortion schemes Brazil has ever known, entrenched in all branches of government. The Carlinhos Cachoeira case is the perfect and complete portrait of true organized crime in Brazil, which now has the chance to come to light.
This week, in the first major move to approve requests, Cunha and the other members of the CPI disappointed. Only second-tier figures were summoned, leaving out governors and even the owner of the Delta construction company, Fernando Cavendish. This generated the natural suspicion that Cunha had already begun to stir things up, turning his CPI into a "CPIzza" (a play on words combining "CPI" - CPI - and "pizza" - meaning "coup" - and "pizza" - meaning a cover-up).
Could it be? Raised in the pleasant town of Boa Esperança, in southern Minas Gerais crossed by the Rio Grande, Odair Cunha, like any good Minas Gerais native, has certainly fished in the waters of the Furnas reservoir. And the wisdom of a good fisherman teaches that first you catch small fish, which then become bait for traíras (a type of fish). And the traíras, who knows, might help catch sharks.
With everything that has been uncovered by the Federal Police itself, and what is known so far, it is very unlikely that the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry will come to nothing. This may even be the wish of the political establishment. But, above it, there is public opinion. Not only that of the mainstream media, but also that of the voices that express themselves freely on the internet and social networks.
Betting on pizza is still premature.