Demosthenes and Protogenes

Demosthenes was a great parliamentarian. Cultured, bold, a good orator.

Protógenes was about to lose his job as a Federal Police Delegate. Sectarian, sickly, with increasingly less credibility both inside and outside his department.

One could never have imagined Demosthenes' promiscuous relationship with a racketeer turned businessman. Hence the disappointment and the desire to see him punished.

I never trusted Protógenes. His mischievous demeanor exudes recklessness. That's why his close connection to Idalberto Matias Araújo, aka "Dadá," Carlos Cachoeira's right-hand man, didn't shock me at all.

I believed, and continue to believe, in the values ​​that Demosthenes preached. It's a shame, a real shame, that he had an "A" side and a "B" side, one personality clashing with the other. The "A" side was virtue; the "B" side, vice.

I never, for a moment, placed my trust in Protógenes. I simply found it ironic that his dark side surfaced so quickly, revealing his close ties to Cachoeira's sprawling scheme. I repeat that I wasn't surprised by his request to "Dadá" to obstruct the Federal Police investigation into the Delegate himself: "Dadá, tell them you'll only speak in court. Follow my instructions."

It's intriguing that Demosthenes, suffering from the vulnerabilities exposed today, could be so defiant in the Senate. It's equally intriguing that Protogenes, accustomed to wiretapping, including illegal wiretaps, felt comfortable proposing the CPI (Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry) that will have to summon him to testify.

The DEM party acted correctly regarding Demóstenes. The PCdoB "believes" that Protógenes has the moral standing to be part of the CPI that will judge him.

Leaving aside the comparison between the two parliamentarians, I hope that the CPI (Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry) will indeed go ahead, be impartial (the majority appoints the President or the Rapporteur, and the minority takes whichever position remains) and spare no one who is guilty, regardless of their party affiliation.

I sense a certain desire, on the part of some, to create a parallel event to the Mensalão trial, which should take place later this semester. All the Supreme Court needs to do is adopt Minister Gilmar Mendes' suggestion: dedicate its entire agenda, from now on, to deliberating on the biggest scandal in Brazilian republican history.

The PT's "pragmatism" would certainly accept sacrificing a Waldomiro Diniz (a leading figure in the Planalto Palace during Lula's first government, already convicted in criminal court, who appeared on television being bribed by the tireless corruptor from Goiás); an Agnelo Queiroz, whose government is corrupted to the core by Cachoeira; a Rubens Otoni, who was shown on video, during prime time, stating that he had already received R$100 from the former gambling boss and preparing to grab a "quota" of equal value. This same "pragmatism" might do everything to save the Delta Construções company – the darling of the PAC (Growth Acceleration Program), which received billions and billions of reais for obscure works – which is linked, in collusion, to the PMDB governor Sergio Cabral and the Planalto Palace.

In return, deputies from almost all other parties could be sacrificed, and Lula would even try, through intermediaries, to exercise his hatred against Governor Marconi Perillo of Goiás, who committed the "crime" of informing the head of the mensalão scheme that there was a mensalão scandal happening in Brazil.

Let's investigate the facts, then. Let's put the trickery aside.

Treat the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry with the respect that Brazilians deserve. 

Arthur Virgílio is a diplomat and was the PSDB leader in the Senate.