Tarcisio Motta is one of Rio’s most famous leftists – but when the city chooses its new leader on Sunday, it will vote for the right.
“We’ve got a mayor who is the enemy of the city, and he can’t move on. It’s ridiculous, “complained the Socialist Councilor, a frustrated Pentecostal bishop Marcelo Crivela, one of the millions of locals seeking to oust him from the city hall, which is seen as a disappointing four-year rule.
To deny Crivela a second term, left-leaning critics like Motta have a choice: to hold his nose and support his only challenge, the center-right former mayor Eduardo Pace.
“I will vote for Eduardo Paes – and I will oppose him from day one,” Motta vowed, adding that Crivela’s “dictatorial, fundamentalist, anti-Rio project” had to be stopped. “The city doesn’t deserve this government,” he said. “Our vote is to veto Crivela.”
Crivela came to power in 2016, one of the first acts of a left-wing bipartisan rhetoric in Brazil, which was claimed two years later by far-right populist Jar Bolsonaro.
“I’m sure we’re going to build the Rio de Janeiro of our dreams,” Crivela, a gospel singer whose uncle founded the controversial Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, revealed in a speech with references to God.
Critics say Crivela’s rule has proved to be a nightmare, with Brazil’s “magnificent city” experiencing the excitement of an economic, social and public health crisis it claims it has failed to address.
Rio’s tragedy This year, a coronavirus outbreak has killed more than 13,000 people, making it one of the most affected cities in the world (171,000 people).
“It’s a disaster,” Said Alvaro Costa e Silva, Rio’s famous 21st century chronicler and one of Crivela’s most piercing critics. The columnist said he was compiling a list of the least beloved administrators in Rio’s 5455-year history and found a few at the level of Crivela – not even Estasio de Sa, who founded the city in 1565 and “probably not very popular because no native He was shot dead after being shot with an arrow.
“I think Crivela will be remembered as the mayor of forgetting – a mayor got rid of the voters so they can forget and never come back,” Costa e Silva said so vaguely about a politician that some insulters call him Rio’s “disaster.” .
High on the list of Crivela’s sins are allegations that he operated for church congregations, not all citizens, and tried to lead the culturally vibrant city to a conservative and intolerant path. He cut money for the Rio Film Festival and LGBT Pride Parade and protested at a book fair trying to ban graphic novels, as they featured cartoons of two kissing men. He became even more angry during this year’s Covid-19 epidemic after installing a publicly funded MRI scanner based on the Universal Church Temple in Rio Favela.
But Crivela’s indifference to its annual carnival, one of Rio’s most beloved cultural institutions, caused, among many, a special outrage. samistas He accused the church of waging a puritanical campaign against festivals that it considered ungodly devalued. “He is probably the first mayor not to take part in the carnival parade,” said Costa e Silva.
Paes, mayor of Rio from 2009 to 2016, alleged this week that Crivela was “on the crusade against the carnival” and admitted that many people supported him because they were craving Crivela.
The Socialist Councilor, Motta, said Rio’s troubles under Crivela preceded the culture wars. “The transport system is not working. Schools are falling apart. Health care has gotten worse… and things have not improved, ”he claimed.
“Rio has become a very sad place in these last four years,” he added. “City halls that don’t seem to like the city, which have tried to change the very essence of the city, and don’t respect Rio’s diversity, have made things very dark.”
The poll suggests that voters agree with Crevela – who blames his failure on the corruption of previous governments – apparently leading to a landslide defeat.
Motta said he hopes Crivela’s death marks the beginning of a new, progressive phase in Rio’s history and perhaps in Brazil. A series of election shocks involving Jair Bolsonaro’s right-wing project has left leftists hoping that political tide could turn again. Support for the former army captain is strong in rural areas and among older voters but has spread to many major cities in the country.
“A lot of people want real change and they have realized the 2018 vote [Bolsonaro’s] Promising hate pushers have not changed dictatorship and hatred.
Costa e Silva said he was relieved that Rio would soon be free of Crivela’s diabetic grip, but warned that his city was not yet out of the woods. The new mayor will face an epidemic and economic crisis after the looting and the growing threat of armed paramilitary gangs that now control more than half of the city. “I don’t know if this is a new era – but I’m sure a new era would only be possible without Crivela,” he said. “It represents the past, the shadows – it’s impossible for him to introduce anything new.”
