May 27, 2022

11:05

Fábio Leite – From Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – During landing in Manaus, on Thursday, 26, after the decision that removed him from the vice-presidency of the House, the federal lawmaker Marcelo Ramos (PSD) made it clear on which side will be for the presidential race. “I will be on President Lula’s platform,” he replied to press questions about the Social Democratic Party’s position for the presidential election. “I believe that the final decision will be not to ally with any candidate.”

Ramos also spoke about the coming of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) to Manaus to participate in the ‘March for Jesus’. “The people of Amazonas expect him to come here to bring good news, because so far he has not brought any”, when referring to the promises not fulfilled by Bolsonaro, such as the reform of BR-319, the protection of the Manaus Free Trade Zone and the repairs on BR-174.

According to the lawmaker, the attacks that the ZFM suffered with the followed federal decrees that take away competitiveness are the responsibility of Minister Paulo Guedes. “When we had the first meeting with Paulo Guedes he said in a clear way how much he was against the Free Trade Zone. He said in a meeting that it was cheaper for Brazil to throw money by helicopter into the city of Manaus than to finance the Free Trade Zone. A citizen who says this does not respect the Free Trade Zone and, therefore, does not deserve our respect,” he said.

“Worst minister of the economy” and “exporter of jobs to China” were other terms used by the congressman to describe Paulo Guedes. “Brazil, at the end of the management of Minister Paulo Guedes, will become a great exporter, a great exporter of jobs from Brazil to China, that’s why Brazil has 12 million unemployed,” declared Ramos.

Confident

Marcelo Ramos was confident with a favorable decision to the ZFM by the Federal Supreme Court (STF). “Minister Alexandre de Moraes is convinced that our arguments are legally sustainable and all the decisions of the STF are in the sense of protecting the comparative advantages of the Manaus Free Trade Zone. We will keep on talking to the other ministers, but we have no doubt that this decision will be confirmed when taken to the plenary session of the Supreme Court.

Another point defended by Ramos is that the Free Trade Zone is not a tax haven. “On the contrary, last year Amazonas collected R$ 12 billion in federal taxes and only received R$ 5 billion in transfers from the Union. Therefore, Amazonas is not a debtor of the Union, Amazonas is a creditor of the Union. It is money from Amazonas that is being used to pay states that broke like Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul,” he concluded.

Shame

The federal lawmaker Marcelo Ramos (PSD) was received by supporters and said that the attitude of the president of the House is shameful and shamed the interference of Bolsonaro in the House of Representatives.

On Wednesday, 25, Lawmaker Lincoln Portela (PL-MG) was elected to the vice presidency of the House, in place of Marcelo Ramos. The congressman, who is a member of the Evangelical Parliamentary Front, received 232 votes in favor.

“A shameless interference, an interference with no other example in history. In the military dictatorship, the military removed the deputies, they didn’t order the president of the House to remove the deputy, no president of the House ever had such a shameful attitude as President Lira had,” says Ramos.

At the airport, supporters of Ramos uttered slogans against President Bolsonaro. Some even said that the elections are coming and that Bolsonaro will leave office in December.