Brazil: PT seeks to replace controversial Article 142 of Constitution | A delegation from the ruling party promotes the reform plan

Brazil is legally binding with the explanation of Article 142 from him Constitution. A nine-line text on the post-dictatorship (1964-1985) son of a troubled era. Army interfered with his writing. This is when the Bolsonaro far-right clings to ignoring Lula’s election victory and calls for military intervention in front of the barracks. In the 1980s, Army Minister General Leonidas Pires Gonçalves wrote a document with 26 demands. One of them is mentioned at the end of 142°. He says he has the power to preserve “law and order” only in the exercise of military power and at the “effort” of state authorities.

A PT delegation led by former trade unionist Carlos Saratini, A PEC (Constitutional Amendment Proposal) is raised to amend the article and categorically close the door to a coup attempt based on a biased view of the Magna Carta.

The controversial 142 states: “The Armed Forces consisting of the Navy, Army and Air Force are permanent and regular national institutions, organized in terms of hierarchy and discipline under the supreme authority of the President, and whose purpose is the defense of the homeland, the guarantee of constitutional powers and, at the initiative of any of these, law and order. If Zarathini’s PEC is to be implemented and debated in Congress, it must go through the process of gathering signatures.. 171 to get that event.

The Federal Vice President of São Paulo explained why he presented the proposal during a virtual interview with journalist Breno Altman from the site of Ópera Mundi on March 3: “This article was included in the 1988 Constitution, which was very controversial at the time and General Leonidas made a decisive intervention. He introduced the words of the Constituent Assembly at the end of the article, practically changing his wording. Armed forces should act to maintain law and order. That allows them to intervene many times, mainly in public security operations.”

Although the Chamber of Deputies rejected the thesis in 2020 that 142 admits the possibility of military intervention, and the Federal Supreme Court (STF) adopted the same position in the same year, the PT legislators are going for the amendment. To the constitution they consider important.

“A Totalitarian Concept”

In conversation with Page I12The Rio Grande do Sul, tributary to Maria do Rosario, he contributed his perspective with Zaratini’s proposal: “Brazil has not passed a transitional justice since the period from dictatorship to democracy. Although the Brazilian constitution was more advanced than the so-called Civilian Constitution, it did not bring changes to the structures of the armed forces. As a result, it brought about an authoritarian concept that united the police and similar forces. It is very important to cut off this aspect and replace it”.

The former Minister of Human Rights during Dilma Rousseff’s government points to the strategic sense of the reform of the article: “The proposed PEC reflects the depth of our democracy, which is still work to be done in our country. We may not be able to do it in the current period due to the many imbalances in the parliament. But it is on the country’s debate agenda. That doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be. It’s important to remember that the repeal of the National Security Act has been in the works for years and was only approved and ratified in 2021.

Although the interpretations of the House of Representatives, the TSF and various legal experts do not provide validity or legitimacy to the application of Bolsonaro 142, the PEC continues its process in Congress to modify it. “Army, Navy and Air Force intervention into the country is unprecedented in any country in the world.”

30 years of military interventions

Brazil’s problem is its centrality in its past decades A plea for the militarization of public security. According to Zaratini, “From 1992 to 2022 there were more than a hundred military interventions regarding law and order.. The famous operation in the Maré favela in Rio de Janeiro was one of them, and before 1992 there was military intervention in the Volta Redonda strike, in which three workers were killed by the military.

All national governments were bypassed by the force, which called for the force to enter the most humble neighborhoods under the pretext of fighting drug trafficking. This sequence has been repeated with Rousseff, Temer and Bolsonaro over at least the last ten years.

But as the PT representative and former unionist recounted, the country’s democratic history has been marked by incidents of casualties among working people at the hands of the military. On October 5, 1988, the national constitution that governs to this day was promulgated and at the end of the month – November 9 -, the army entered the President Vargas Steel plant of the National Steel Company (CSN) in Volta Redonda. , State of Rio de Janeiro.

This year marks the 35th anniversary of the repression by bullets that ended the lives of 19-year-old Carlos Augusto Barroso; Valmir Freitas Monteiro, 22; and William Fernandez Leet, 23. Another 31 people were injured, including co-workers and residents of the plant.

A bulletin from the central Única de Trabajadores (CUT) from that time details: “On the orders of a general sent directly from Brasilia, soldiers armed with tanks and machine guns attacked and shot a crowd of CSN metallurgists. . They occupied the plant’s facilities in a war maneuver and sowed terror even in the outskirts of the city. Workers were killed, many wounded by canes (…) Even during 21 years of military dictatorship the generals of the President of the Republic, the repressive forces, did not dare to kill the workers inside the factory.

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