President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) made official, this Thursday (2), the transfer of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin) from the structure of the Institutional Security Office (GSI) to the Civil House, a portfolio commanded by Minister Rui Costa (PT) and directly linked to the Presidency of the Republic. The measure was confirmed by means of a decree published in the Official Gazette of the Union.
The change is part of the PT government’s strategy to reformulate intelligence structures to contain the influence of supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), accused of rigging and making political use of Abin. The central body of the Brazilian Intelligence System was previously under the command of the GSI, the only ministry commanded by a military man on the Esplanada, General Gonçalves Dias.
The Lula government’s strategy, which is a demand from the agency’s intelligence professional bodies, such as Intelis (Abin’s Union of State Intelligence Professionals), is to reformulate the intelligence and institutional security services, after the failure to anticipate and monitoring of the January 8 invasions.
Know more: Abin appoints leave servant as corregedora to extend mandate and protect bolsonaristas
The ordinance also indicates that Abin must “assist the Minister of State of the Civil House of the Presidency of the Republic in matters within the competence of Abin” and “indicate to the Minister of State of the Civil House of the Presidency of the Republic the servants who may be designated to provide service abroad pursuant to the provisions of article 10 of Law No. 11,776, of September 17, 2008”.
Abin is Brazil’s civil intelligence agency, created in 1999 during the government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso (PSDB). Its role is “to investigate real and potential threats, identify opportunities of interest to the State and Brazilian society, in addition to defending national sovereignty and the democratic rule of law”.
Although it was created recently, intelligence activity in the country has existed since 1927. Abin’s positions have been filled through public tenders since 1994 and there are still former employees of previous intelligence agencies, such as the National Information Service, the central agency in the repression of the Military Dictatorship, extinguished in 1990. The agency is not autonomous and is linked to the Presidency, being supervised by the National Congress through the Joint Commission for the Control of Intelligence Activities (CCAI).
Abin in the Bolsonaro government
During the Bolsonaro government, there were several cases in which Abin agents were involved in scandals. In the first of them, in 2020, Abin produced at least two reports to help the defense of Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (Republicanos-RJ) to seek the annulment of the Queiroz case, in which the politician is investigated for the “crack” scheme when he was still state representative.
Read too: PGR investigates whether Flávio Bolsonaro used a government agency to get rid of investigations
At the end of August, the Federal Police stated in a report that Abin hindered the progress of an investigation involving Jair Renan Bolsonaro, the president’s youngest son. A member of the agency, caught in an operation, admitted in a statement that he received the mission to gather information on an episode related to Jair Renan, under investigation by the PF.
The case took place on March 16 last year, four days after Jair Renan Bolsonaro and his physical trainer Allan Lucena became targets of a PF investigation. According to the spy, the objective was to prevent “risks to the image” of the head of the Executive Branch.
Remember: A member of Tarcísio’s campaign ordered a cameraman for Jovem Pan to delete images of the shooting
In October, during the campaign of the then candidate for the governorship of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), an intelligence officer licensed from Abin was responsible for asking a cameraman from Rádio Jovem Pan to delete images of a shooting that took place on the 17th. October in the Paraisópolis favela, in the south of São Paulo, which interrupted a Freitas agenda.
Editing: Vivian Virissimo
