VZCZCXRO2796
RR RUEHRG
DE RUEHBR #0485/01 0811555
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 221555Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8394
INFO RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 5990
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 4640
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 6792
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 6135
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 6368
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RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEANHA/FAA NATIONAL HQ WASHDC
RUEAYVF/FAA MIAMI ARTCC MIAMI FL
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BRASILIA 000485 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
TSA FOR VICKI REEDER, SUSAN HASMAN 
 
SIPDIS 
AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES PASS TSA ATTACHE JOCHOA 
FAA FOR C. TERE FRANCESCHI, MAYTE ASHBY 
DOD FOR OSD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV EAIR BR
SUBJECT: PRO-GOVERNMENT LEGISLATORS BLOCK AIR TRAFFIC 
CRISIS INQUIRY 
 
REF: A. 06 BRASILIA 2315 
 
     ¶B. 06 BRASILIA 2521 
     ¶C. 06 BRASIIA 2680 
     ¶D. 06 BRASILIA 2578 
     ¶E. BRASILIA 107 
     ¶F. BRASILIA 457 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary.  In a dramatic marathon session of the 
Chamber of Deputies' Constitution, Justice, and Citizenship 
Committee (CCJ), pro-government legislators on March 20 broke 
the backbone of a minority attempt to establish a 
Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI) into the Air Traffic 
Crisis.  The government is firmly opposed to a CPI, fearing 
it will be a witch hunt for incompetence that will be used 
for political purposes.  More significantly, prior to 
defeating the opposition's attempt to establish the CPI, for 
the last ten days opposition legislators were able to cause 
gridlock in the Chamber of Deputies, in what could be the 
first of many hardball episodes to challenge the government's 
overwhelming strength in the lower house.  Legislators from 
the Liberal Front Party (PFL), the Brazilian Social Democracy 
Movement (PSDB), and the Socialist People's Party (PPS) tried 
to delay a pro-government vote to reject the CPI, but were 
outfoxed in a parliamentary maneuver, resulting in a day of 
verbal warfare, rising tempers, insults and, at one point, a 
narrowly avoided physical confrontation between the committee 
chairman and the minority leader.  At the end of a session 
lasting over seven hours, the government won in a 39 to 21 
vote, made possible only with 12 votes from the Brazilian 
Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), apparently putting an end 
to the possibility of an inquiry into the air traffic crisis 
that has sporadically crippled civil aviation in Brazil for 
months.  The next day the government won again in the Chamber 
plenary with a 308-141 victory. The Supreme Court could still 
rule in favor of establishing the CPI.  End summary. 
 
Background 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The Brazilian air traffic system has experienced 
serious problems since the September 29, 2006, crash of Gol 
flight 1907 after colliding in mid-air with a private jet, 
resulting in Brazil's worst air disaster, with the loss of 
154 lives.  It set off a chain reaction of events that 
continue to plague Brazilian commercial aviation.  (Reftels 
A, B and C)  Waldir Pires, the Minister of Defense, who 
indirectly oversees the air traffic control system, came 
under severe attack, and is expected to be replaced 
imminently. 
 
Work Slowdown by Air Traffic Controllers 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  After the Gol accident, air traffic controllers, 
who are uniformed Air Force personnel, began a work-to-rule 
labor action under which they worked the hours stipulated in 
their regulations, which was in effect a work slowdown.  It 
resulted in massive air traffic delays at critical times such 
as Christmas and Carnival.  Occasional equipment failures 
further aggravated the crisis.  Federal Deputy Jos Carlos 
Aleluia (PFL, Bahia) (protect), who was the minority leader 
until last month, expressed a widely held view when he told 
Poloff on March 20 that the air traffic crisis is mainly the 
result of sabotage by air traffic controllers.  The problem 
has been persistent, and reappeared in full strength over the 
weekend of March 17-18, resulting in massive delays 
nationwide and widespread passenger ire. 
 
Opposition Calls for Investigation, Then Imposes Gridlock 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  In that context, opposition parties in the Chamber 
of Deputies called for an official investigation, which would 
 
BRASILIA 00000485  002 OF 003 
 
 
almost certainly prove embarrassing to the administration of 
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.  When government forces 
put up strong resistance, the PFL, PSDB and PPS decided to 
cause gridlock throughout the lower house.  They were able to 
halt voting in the plenary and in the CCJ from March 13 until 
yesterday.  At the same time they asked the Supreme Court for 
a ruling to force the Congress to establish the "CPI on the 
Air Traffic Crisis."  Legislators from President Lula's 
Workers Party (PT) then introduced a measure to the effect 
that the Congress would not establish the CPI.  This set off 
a race against the clock by the opposition to stall the vote 
on the PT measure so the Supreme Court would settle the 
matter once and for all.  The government tried to rush its 
measure to a vote because once Congress had voted in the 
plenary -- where the government was assured of victory by 
dint of its overwhelming numbers -- the Supreme Court could 
be less likely to rule against the government, or rule at all 
on this issue. 
 
Showdown and Government Victory 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Opposition legislators were prepared to induce 
another day of legislative paralysis on March 20, and 
dispatched staffers at seven a.m. to introduce a number of 
delaying items on the CCJ agenda, according to press reports. 
 They were outfoxed when a federal deputy from the PMDB 
placed the PT measure on the agenda for a vote.  The 
committee chairman, 27 year old Leonardo Picciani (PMDB, Rio 
de Janeiro) then put the PT measure at the top of the agenda 
for a vote, determining under the rules that a deputy's 
agenda items take precedence over those submitted by 
staffers.  The CCJ meeting opened at 9:30 a.m.  By late 
afternoon it had turned into a raucus and unruly affair. 
Picciani struggled to maintain order.  Opposition deputies 
unrelentingly interrupted pro-government speakers and the 
chairman, asking them to yield a moment to make a point, or 
calling for a point of order.  All the while Picciani pushed 
the session toward a vote.  The highest drama came when 
Picciani replied to Julio Redecker (PSDB, Rio Grande do Sul), 
the minority leader in the Chamber of Deputies, that he 
should be careful not to venture into "frivolousness," 
(leviandade).  Redecker stood up and began to make his way 
toward the Chairman's table, shouting "Frivolous?  You 
respect me!...I'll show you frivolous!" but was restrained by 
colleagues.  After a break, tempers cooled, the chairman 
retracted his words, forced a vote, and the government side 
won 39 to 21.  All twelve PMDB deputies present voted with 
the government. 
 
Government Wins Handily in Plenary 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  On March 21 the PT's measure to bury the CPI was 
approved in a 308-141 open ballot vote in the Chamber's 
plenary, where the result was never in doubt because of the 
government's strength in numbers.  Voting was along the 
government-opposition divide.  Unaligned parties mostly voted 
with the opposition.  The CPI question not yet completely 
dead; the Supreme Court could still order the Chamber to 
establish it.  A decision is not expected before April. 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  Comment.  This was the first major test of 
coalition strength after last week's cabinet shuffle, in 
which the PMDB increased its seats at the table from two to 
five.  The PMDB repaid the favor.  The coalition appears more 
solid now than it did a few months ago, when the PMDB 
probably helped defeat the government's candidate to the 
National Accounting Court (Ref D).  But that was before the 
Chamber presidency contest (Ref E) in which the PMDB played a 
key role in electing the PT candidate, and before it had been 
rewarded in the cabinet shuffle for that support and 
 
BRASILIA 00000485  003 OF 003 
 
 
recognized for its sheer size (Ref F).  The Congressional 
gridlock, the raucus CCJ meeting, and then the crushing 
opposition defeats there and in the plenary do not augur well 
for the government's willingness to maintain a good working 
relationship with opposition parties.  Similarly, the 
opposition's hardball tactic could come back to haunt them, 
since they are vastly outnumbered in the lower house.  If 
this is a taste of things to come in the 53rd Congress, 
little could be accomplished and partisanship could remain at 
a fever pitch. 
 
Sobel