Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, depending on what time you opened this email. I am the Politics and Brazil Editor at GLOBO and in this newsletter you will find analysis, behind the scenes and relevant content of political news.
Poso Redondo, with a population of about 16,000, is one of 295 municipalities in Santa Catarina where Carlos Bolsonaro intends to seek votes for senator next year. Two weeks ago, a video recorded by Rafael Tamposi – the city’s mayor and Liberal Party member and son of the former president – summed up the feeling of a large part of the local right to move the electoral headquarters of the Rio councilor to the state.
Inside a barn, with bulls and cows in the background, Tambosi opened his cell phone camera and for two minutes launched attacks against what among Santa Catarina residents was called the Bolsonaro family coercion:
-We love our livestock, and we treat our animals well, but the people of Santa Catarina are not livestock. This should be very clear at this time when leaders are not taking a stand while we force Carlos’ nomination to the Senate.
Tamposi’s statement is consistent with the recent statement of the mayor of Joinville, the largest city in Santa Catarina, with a population of 616,000:
– I understand this as an attack on the state. I don’t know Carlos personally, but I would make this criticism to anyone else who wants to move to a country just to have voting opportunities,” said Adriano Silva (Novo), in an interview with the regional podcast “Cabeça de Político.”
Two of the most important mayors of Santa Catarina agreed to talk about the rebellion in Santa Catarina with a change of address for Carlos – the chancellor decided to live in São José, a city with a population of 270 thousand people. The background to the protest on the right is the fact that Federal Representative Carol De Toni (PL) and Senator Esperidío Amin (PP) have put themselves forward as candidates before. At the head of the municipality of Chapeco, with a population of 254,000, city mayor João Rodrigues (PSD) is mocking Governor Jorginio Melo (PL), who will be responsible for organizing the right-wing ticket.
– People from Santa Catarina were not very receptive to Carlos as a candidate. Now, on the other hand, these people only exist because of Bolsonaro. If it weren’t for the former president, they wouldn’t be anyone – says Rodriguez, downplaying recent research that makes Carlos a contender for the Senate – People outside the bubble still don’t really know that the son of the former president who doesn’t live here yet is going to be a candidate, they just see the family surname without understanding it.
Topazio Neto (PSD), in charge of the administration of Florianópolis, with a population of 537,000, realizes that it is not good for the right to go to the polls divided among three candidates, while the left can unite under only one name – today, the most popular is Dício Lima, president of SEPRAI and runner-up in the 2022 gubernatorial elections against Jorginho.
– Resistance to the name Carlos is normal at this moment. But there is still a lot of water, there is still a year until the election, and we do not know what effect Bolsonaro’s arrest will have on voters in Santa Catarina. Feelings are very mixed. But the ideal situation is that there will be only two names for the Senate, and I am sure that there will be a composition – says Topazio.
Before his arrest and with no clarity over Carlos’s refusal in Santa Catarina, Bolsonaro was certain that he would solve the problem with a sexist strategy. Columnist Thales Faria, from Correio da Manhá newspaper, revealed that the former president sought Carole De Toni’s husband, the former mayor of Zanchiri, with a population of 52,000, Mateus Bortoluzzi, to help persuade the parliamentarian to abandon the candidacy. In the conversation, Bolsonaro found a man uncomfortable with the prospect of his wife spending eight years as a senator, traveling frequently to Brasilia. The couple has two daughters, one of whom is a newborn.
The Bolsonaro family is certain that Santa Catarina and its 8.1 million residents will accept whatever the family sends based on two numbers: In 2022, the former president received 69% of the vote in the state against Lula. Two years later, Balerio Camboriu, population 139,000, appointed Jair Renan, his fourth son in politics, as the city’s most voted councilor.
Just like Carlos, the 27-year-old, known as ’04’, has also been rejected by the local political class. In August, city council president Markus Kurz dubbed it “Tiririca de Balneário Camboriú” after a discussion in plenary. In September, it was Mayor Juliana Pavan’s (PSD) turn to say that the former president’s son needed to “read more”. Jair Renan became a laughing stock in the city in the second half of the year after recording a video and incorrectly using the word “citizens” when referring to the plural “citizen”.
– He never takes a position on almost anything, and when he does, I can’t understand what he says – said Mayor Giuliana Pavan, last week, in an interview with the Paolo Matias channel, on YouTube.
- “My Ayrton, by Adrian Gallisto”
I thought the Ayrton Senna theme would be exhausted by the glut of recent productions, but I was wrong. After the documentary “Senna by Ayrton”, on Globoplay, and the series “Senna”, on Netflix, starring the giant Gabriel Leone, HBO also put its product on the streets. In two episodes, “Meu Ayrton, by Adriane Galisteu” presents the perspective of the driver’s ex-girlfriend in the moments before and after the fatal accident during the San Marino Grand Prix, at Imola, in 1994.
Galisto never had a good relationship with the Senna family, and the friction was evident in the Netflix series, which is supervised by the driver’s relatives. The production devoted an entire chapter to Xuxa, but briefly covered Galisto, Sena’s girlfriend at the time of his death. The HBO documentary shows that on the day of the pilot’s funeral, Adrienne was away from her family and had difficulty even getting close to the coffin.
But in the end, what is the reason for the fighting? Spoiler alert: Luisa Almeida Braga, widow of Antonio Carlos de Almeida Braga, also known as Braguinha, who closely followed the couple’s relationship at their residence in Portugal, confirms in the documentary a story that has always been circulated as a rumor: that the car driver’s family managed to eavesdrop on the home phone and record Galisto’s alleged conversations with her ex-boyfriend. Although the documentary is based entirely on interviews with the actress and presenter, she was not provoked by HBO to talk about the topic.
The production also shows how Gallisto was judged in a sexist way when she released a book called “The Butterfly Way” at the age of 21 about her relationship with Senna. Experienced professionals such as Marilia Gabriella and Joe Soares bought into the narrative of the occasion, hinting by the way they were asked in interviews that the actress and presenter was trying to make a name for herself in the role of the “widow” of the great Brazilian idol.
In 1995, a year after Cena’s death, Galisto ended up posing nude for Playboy magazine. She had already taken pictures for the magazine before the accident, but the pilot became jealous and acted to prevent publication. According to the HBO documentary, Sina contacted journalist Joka Kfoury, the magazine’s editor-in-chief at the time, and was able to cancel the publication of the photos.