The highest ranks of Brazil’s military came together to avert the ouster of General Joaquim Silva e Luna from the presidency of Petrobras. The defensive movement emerged over the weekend after the sons of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) published criticisms against the general's management on their social media.
Led by the vice president of the Republic, General Hamilton Mourão, the military articulated to convince Bolsonaro that there is nothing wrong with Petrobras' pricing policy.
The group claims that, from now on, the measures approved in Congress will be enough to smooth the edges between the company, which defends shareholders, and the government, which holds the controlling interest.
The trend, in the assessment of this wing, is for prices to fall not only with the reduction of Tax on Commerce and Services (ICMS), but also due to the drop in oil prices due to a possible cooling off in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
After almost two months without making any readjustments and on the eve of drastic changes in fuel taxation, Petrobras announced a 19% readjustment on gasoline in refineries and 25% on diesel. At stations located further away from the country, such as in Acre, the liter of gasoline reached R$ 11.
Last week, in private meetings, Bolsonaro showed opposition to Petrobras' attitude. The president wanted to have the ICMS reduction and standardization project approved by Congress before the pump readjustment.
Advisors to Economy Minister Paulo Guedes confirmed the "combined game." The strategy, however, didn’t work because Petrobras announced the readjustment before the final result of the vote on the ICMS bill in Congress. General Silva e Luna, in turn, did not show any remorse and told Reuters on Monday (14) that he will not step down. "I'm a soldier. The battlefield is my comfort zone. I don't run away from the battlefield, abandoning my troops. There is no crisis," he said.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon