Fiesp and businessmen insist on inviting Bolsonaro, who does not confirm new meetings

President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) suspended meetings he would have with businessmen in São Paulo less than two months before the elections and amid increased pressure from the country’s economic elite against speeches of coup content and attacks by the president on the electoral system.

To avoid even greater damage to his image, Bolsonaro canceled a trip to Fiesp (Federação de Indústrias de São Paulo) and also a dinner with a group of businessmen that he would have on the 11th in the capital of São Paulo, as anticipated by the Mônica Bergamo column.

Members of the two groups that would meet with Bolsonaro in São Paulo communicated to Palácio do Planalto that they are still open to receiving the candidate, but the president’s assistants have not yet responded when the meetings will take place – amid the difficulties of circumventing the businessmen’s criticism of the candidate. to reelection.

The appointments were scheduled for the day in pro-democracy manifestos to be read at an event at the USP Law School. Bolsonaro has been making statements that cast doubt on electronic voting machines. He has already said that the texts are “clearly” against him.

The president’s advice got in touch with Fiesp on Tuesday stating that he needed to cancel the trip to the entity on the 11th, but that he could reschedule. He informed that the president had cleared the entire agenda in São Paulo, including the dinner with businessmen, organized by the Esfera group.

Soon after, the president of Fiesp, Josué Gomes da Silva, sent a letter to the Presidency reiterating the invitation for the president to go to Fiesp to present his ideas to the associates, on the date the Planalto wants to reschedule.

There is an attempt to reschedule the dinner, which had been organized by João Camargo, from the Esfera group, with the help of Admiral Flávio Rocha, secretary of Strategic Affairs and one of Bolsonaro’s closest friends, to before September 7th. Campaign members, however, resist rescheduling.

The federation and the other entities were going to publish full-page advertisements in the newspapers Sheet, Estadão, O Globo and Valor Econômico the manifesto in defense of democracy this Thursday (4), but the logos of the entities did not arrive within the deadline for the completion of the design. Therefore, the manifest must be published on Friday (5).

The demonstration by big businessmen and bankers against Bolsonaro’s statements was lamented by campaign strategists, who have tried in recent weeks to find blame within the government for the movement.

One of the targets was Minister Paulo Guedes (Economy). The minister’s allies in public banks even voted against the adhesion of Febraban (Brazilian Federation of Banks) to the manifesto in view of the view that the text would defend in a special way the TSE (Superior Electoral Court, which has been attacked by Bolsonaro) – but they were voted defeated.

Bolsonaro listened to advice from close allies and campaign members, who saw the meetings as another potential strain, as shown by Sheet. The assessment was that it would look like competition with the event scheduled at USP, and that the president would hardly win.

In addition, there was a great risk of protests in front of Fiesp or the place where the dinner would take place.

At Fiesp, the president would also be invited to sign the manifesto in defense of democracy headed by the institution, as other presidential candidates have done.

The president, however, had already signaled to members of his team that the text had political connotations and that he did not intend to sign it. Refusing the event would do more harm to the president.

In parallel with the Fiesp manifesto, businessmen and members of civil society also organized the letter in defense of the Democratic Rule of Law. The document already has the support of more than 720,000 people, including bankers Roberto Setubal and Pedro Moreira Salles, co-chairs of Itaú Unibanco’s board of directors, and Candido Bracher, former president of the financial institution and now also a member of its advice.

Allies of the chief executive try to minimize the letters, claiming that those who adhere to them are no longer supporters of the president and have a political preference for the PT.

Bolsonaro, in turn, has shown his dissatisfaction with the letters in statements in recent days. He minimizes the documents, calling it a “letter”.