Brazil is a noisy but functional democracy, says Guedes about crisis between Powers

Minister Paulo Guedes (Economy) said this Thursday (26) that Brazil is a noisy but functional democracy, and that investors and foreign authorities have “accustomed to the noise”.

“[O Brasil] it is a robust, noisy but resilient democracy,” he told reporters during the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, commenting on the constant friction between the Executive and the Judiciary.

“Democracy is a decentralized political decision-making algorithm. That’s why it makes noise. The president says one thing, the Supreme Court says another, Congress another. This noise is normal in a democracy.”

Guedes had been asked about possible concerns about the health of Brazilian democracy and the president’s constant attacks on the Federal Supreme Court, especially Minister Alexandre de Moraes.

According to him, the issue did not arise during the meetings he had with foreign officials and executives. Only one of the events, a lunch offered by the American newspaper Washington Post, the minister was asked in a generic way about the October elections.

Guedes says that Forum participants “have come to respect” Brazil and to trust both Brazilian democracy and the ability to carry out reforms.

The frictions, however, get in the way, he admits.

“Noise comes from excesses committed by individuals. A guy inside the Supreme Court comes out of the fence and that’s it. Or even if it’s the president, he says something about the Supreme, it seems disrespectful, they ask to stop it”, he said. “This noise disturbs us a lot. We could have grown more, done more renovations.”