Four former presidents have been arrested and convicted twice in 24 years, and five former governors (RJs) have been sentenced to prison, which is quite a portfolio, for better or worse.
It says a lot about the behavior of the authorities, but it also says a lot about the national history of tolerance toward the powerful, not only in politics strictly speaking, but also in professional activity.
Until the early 1990s, Rio de Janeiro’s gambling tycoons were treated as celebrities, campaign financiers in the open.
It took the action of a young substitute judge, Denise Frossard, to arrest 14 of them – including Castor de Andrade, the most famous. To this day, his heirs are still involved in crimes, but they are not viewed as complacent as they once were. The impeachment of Fernando Collor dates back to the same time.
From the turn of the century onwards, we were witness to a series of scandals that resulted in the arrest of party leaders and three former presidents, the dismantling of corruption schemes, and another trial for administrative irresponsibility. So far, the military and Jair Bolsonaro have been convicted of the coup attempt.
This large number of illegal incidents revealed, in a short period of time, could put Brazil in the position of a paradise of violations. Removing sanctions would also allow the conclusion that the country has no way out. However, it will be a hasty read.
Flaws rooted in decades – perhaps centuries – of abuses, bad habits and a culture of veneration of officials cannot be corrected overnight. It takes time and involves frustrating setbacks.
The good news is that the explosion of violations, and the collapse of some of them, coincides with the return of the democratic system. The validity of full legality requires preventing the autonomy of perpetrators of criminal acts, whatever their nature, in the name of preserving the freedom of the entire nation.
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