Brazil is not prepared for what is to come, says Leonardo Barreto

Brazil could face a serious institutional short-circuit if the United States publishes a list of sanctions involving members of the Judiciary, politicians and businesspeople with alleged links to criminal organizations such as the PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital) and CV (Comando Vermelho). The assessment is by Leonardo Barreto, partner at the Think Policy consultancy, in an interview with WW.

According to Barreto, the country is not prepared, from an institutional point of view, to process and judge a scenario of this magnitude. The expert drew a parallel with the requests for suspicion already underway at the Federal Supreme Court (STF) to warn that the system is already showing signs of fragility.

Suspicion requests and the beginning of the short circuit

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Barreto highlighted that the requests for suspicion of ministers Alexandre de Moraes and Nunes Marques, presented by senators, are symptomatic of a deeper problem.

"We are already experiencing this with this set of suspicion requests", he stated. For him, the involvement of Judiciary figures in certain cases could lead to a situation in which "soon there won't be people to judge who is involved".

The risk of American sanctions
The expert projected a hypothetical but plausible scenario: "Let's imagine that in some time the United States releases a list of people who will suffer sanctions due to links with these two criminal organizations."

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If this list includes members of the Judiciary, politicians and large businesspeople, Barreto questions how Brazilian institutions would react. "Will the institutions rush to investigate and hold people accountable or will they protect?", he asked.

The example of Mexico
To illustrate the risk, Barreto cited the Mexican case, where governors were accused by the United States of maintaining relations with cartels. "The governor of a Mexican state was clearly accused by the United States of having a relationship with the cartel," he recalled, questioning how internal institutions were able to process these issues. For him, Brazil may find itself facing a similar dilemma.

Barreto reinforced that the main risk identified, within the set of possibilities that includes sanctions and other situations, is "the incapacity or lack of preparation that our institutions have for what could come and what could come very quickly".

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Source: CNN