In a post, senator Plinio Valério accuses minister Marina Silva of lying to raise money

Mencius Melo – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – The senator for Amazonas, Plínio Valério (PSDB), He used his social networks on Thursday, 19, to accuse the Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva (Rede Sustentabilidade), of lying to “raise money” with the external business community and international governments. The Brazilian representative at the World Economic Forum (WEF) held in Davos, Switzerland, said during a lecture last Monday, 16: “The world is unequal. In my country there are 120 million people who are starving”.

The minister’s mistaken speech, which she later corrected herself, was enough for the senator from the Amazon to attack her: “When the minister says, to an audience of millionaires, that 120 million Brazilians are going hungry, she knows what she is saying. It is one of the lies that serves her purpose of raising money to distribute to NGOs that impede the development of the Amazon. Other lies will be told”, he accused.

CENARIUM MAGAZINE interviewed the sociologist from the Social Sciences department of the Federal University of Amazonas (Ufam) about the senator’s accusation. “Senator Plinio Valério, as a public man, has no virtue. He behaves like a ‘little councilman’ from the edge of a ravine. He is a self-centered, myopic politician whose existence is as deep as a saucer. It’s a shame that we have to live with him in parliament until the end of his term”, he lamented.

Gully’s edge

The sociologist continued his criticism: “This city councilor with the title of senator should be ashamed of himself for wanting to put in check one of the most important women in the history of this country. Marina is a person with whom I disagree, but it is necessary to respect her trajectory. Only a chauvinist like this gentleman would try to disqualify an important woman who will fight daily against the genocidal, land grabbing and violent agenda that this senator defends”, he blasted.

The social-environmental activist, Pedro Alace, who works in Castanhal, in Pará, refuted the senator’s accusations: “The organizations in the Amazon, NGOs, and especially grassroots networks and collectives suffer from underfunding. We have several difficulties to maintain our work, requiring a lot of effort so that this reality changes and we can have tranquility in our planning. The difficulties are so many that, many times, we don’t have the resources to pay the team that, then, works in a voluntary way. They forget that activists eat, wear clothes, and need to support themselves!”, he retorted.

The activist continued rebutting the parliamentary statements: “When the senator talks about ‘development’, we know who he means. He refers to big capital and the profits of big corporations that exploit and murder the Amazon and its peoples, that poison our lands and waters. Really, it is not interesting for these people that the work of the organizations happens”, he considered.

Misguided statement

Mrs. Marina Silva represented Brazil in one of the lectures at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. The forum debates urgent global issues and the environmental theme has gained considerable space on the world agenda. Brazil’s presence in the round needs no explanation. During a lecture last Monday, the 16th, Marina Silva misstated the number of people who, according to her, go hungry in Brazil: “The world is unequal. In my country there are 120 million people who are going hungry”.

The day after the statement, Tuesday 17, the Brazilian Minister of Environment and Climate Change made the correction: “A government (Lula’s) that will face the problem of social inequalities, because we have 33 million Brazilians who go hungry, and that will work to create a new cycle of prosperity”, she said.

Controversial Agenda

The first-term senator Plinio Valério (PSDB), has been known for a controversial agenda. He voted against the Transition PEC because, according to him: “PT wants to swim in money”. He voted against the federal intervention in Brasília, after the terrorist acts of January 8, and showed solidarity with the coup participants imprisoned in the headquarters of the National Police Academy (ANP): “I abhor the acts of violence, but I am against the persecution of innocent people who are without water and food,” he declared.

A few days before the riots in Brasília, provoked by the “innocents”, the parliamentarian from the Amazon went public to ask for the impeachment of the ministers of the Federal Supreme Court (STF). On the occasion, he gave a word of strength to the right-wing extremists camped out at the doors of the barracks: “You cannot lose heart”. And they did not fade until they destroyed the headquarters of the Supreme Court, the National Congress and the Alvorada Palace.

Mr. Plínio Valério also has an obsession with NGOs. So much so that the senator has been fighting, since he took office in 2019, to create a CPI to investigate them, especially those that operate in the Amazon. Another flag is the printed vote. Taking a ride on the crusade that former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) launched against electronic ballot boxes, Mr. Plinio used his networks to defend what magistrates, political scientists, and other experts consider a setback. “People who don’t want to improve democracy”, he declared in a YouTube live.

The Plínio cost

The senator for Amazonas, Mr. Plínio Valério (PSDB), employs in his Brasilia office, according to the Federal Senate Portal, 13 people. In addition to the staff in the federal capital, Valério also employs 44 people in his support office in Manaus, Amazonas. The office is located at 811 Theomário Pinto da Costa Avenue, Sky Platinum Offices Building, room 1805, Chapada neighborhood.

In his four years in office, Senator Plinio Valério cost, until the end of 2022, according to the Federal Senate Portal: R$ 1,285,578.90. In 2022, it was R$ 390,953.98. In 2021, Mr. Plinio spent R$ 335,710.69. In 2020, R$ 261,980.95 and, in 2019, R$ 296,932.06. As a parliamentarian, he made 33 speeches in 2022, 23 in 2021, 36 in 2020, and 76 in 2019. These values do not include the senator’s salary, which is R$33,763. “Did he approve any project, bar any attack against the Amazon?”, questioned sociologist Luiz Antônio.