President Lula’s reaction when he hears the names of the president of União Brasil, Antonio Rueda, and the governor of Rio de Janeiro, Cláudio Castro (PL), is the same.
According to his interlocutors, Lula said that he “does not like putschists”, in reference to the fact that Rueda worked to overthrow his political godfather, deputy Luciano Bivar (PE), from the presidency of União Brasil.
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Claudio Castro meets Antônio Rueda, president of União Brasil, in Brasilia
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President Lula (PT) with the governor of Rio, Claudio Castro (PL)
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The governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas, and of Rio, Claudio Castro
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Rueda’s position, in his diagnosis of the president, demonstrates that he is someone dangerous and untrustworthy, say his interlocutors. It was Bivar who trained Rueda and brought him into politics. He discovers, over time, that his student has taken control of the legend behind his back.
Rueda usually responds the same way. He makes scathing criticisms of the Lula government and campaigns for an opposition candidacy for the PT member. In Paraná, União Brasil launched into the government senator Sergio Moro (União), the judge who arrested Lula at Lava Jato.
The feeling towards Cláudio Castro is one of rejection. The president was unhappy with the governor’s behavior following the police operation carried out in the Alemão and Penha complexes, in the northern zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Castro said he had no support from the Lula government for this action. At the time, he said Rio was “alone” and that requests for help to confront criminal factions had been refused by the PT administration.
The episode damaged the image of the government and Lula’s candidacy for presidential succession, the PT member will seek a fourth term, and contributed to projecting Governor Tarcísio de Freitas (Repubicanos), an adversary that PT members consider the most difficult to face.
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