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DE RUEHBR #0872/01 1361510
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 161510Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
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INFO RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 6083
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 4771
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 6882
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BRASILIA 000872 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
BUENOS AIRES FOR TSA - OCHOA 
STATE FOR EB/TRA: JHORWITZ, JREIFMAN, KGUSTAFSON 
TSA FOR VICKI REEDER, SUSAN HASMAN 
 
SIPDIS 
FAA FOR C. TERE FRANCESCHI, CECILIA CAPESTANY, MAYTE ASHBY 
DOT FOR BRIAN HEDBERG 
NTSB FOR BOB MACINTOSH AND BILL ENGLISH 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 5/11/2017 
TAGS: EAIR PGOV CASC BR
SUBJECT: BRAZIL:  PMDB PLAYED HARDBALL WITH AIR TRAFFIC 
INQUIRY IN BID FOR SPOILS 
 
REF: A. BRASILIA 485 
 
     ¶B. BRASILIA 598 
     ¶C. BRASILIA 600 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Dennis W. Hearne, reasons 1.4 b/d 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Summary.  The Brazilian Democratic Movement Party 
(PMDB) leadership used a threat of non-cooperation with the 
government in the Chamber of Deputies' just-created 
Parliamentary Inquiry Committee (CPI) on the Air Traffic 
Crisis to pressure the Lula administration for jobs in the 
second tier of government.  The PMDB leadership had 
threatened to place four deputies on the CPI who could be 
counted on to work against the government's position.  The 
threat did not work, and the party appears to have retreated 
from linking its role in the CPI to political spoils.  With 
the jobs issue still unresolved, about a third of the 
ninety-some PMDB Federal Deputies are threatening obstruction 
in the Chamber of Deputies in order to pressure the 
government for jobs.  But the deputies are not going to try 
to achieve their goals by manipulating the CPI, group 
spokesman Federal Deputy Eduardo Cunha (PMDB, Rio de Janeiro) 
said, according to a May 15 Correio Braziliense story.  The 
PMDB's threat to politicize the CPI had strengthened the 
likelihood, still present, that the CPI's conclusions could 
be a whitewash that blames American pilots for last 
September's midair collision between an Embraer Legacy jet 
and Gol flight 1907, resulting in Brazil's worst commercial 
air disaster and the loss of 154 lives.  That scenario seems 
less likely than at the end of last week, but we will not 
know for sure for some time.  The episode serves as a 
reminder that most of the PMDB is a non-ideological, 
spoils-oriented organization that places its own interests 
first.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  On May 10 the CPI ordered the American pilots of 
the Embraer Legacy jet to provide testimony.  Their Brazilian 
lawyer already has stated that the pilots are unlikely to 
return from the U.S. simply to testify before a CPI; they are 
also under indictment here.  As it investigates the causes of 
the Legacy/Gol crash, the CPI could opt not to delve deeply 
into alleged failings in Brazilian air traffic control, and 
in its conclusions blame the accident entirely on the 
American pilots.  This scenario would leave Lula's image 
relatively unscathed.  In a scenario less favorable to Lula, 
the CPI would embarrass the government by revealing 
mismanagement of air traffic control and airports.  While the 
position of other coalition deputies is probably predictably 
in line with a government attempt to control damage, the same 
cannot yet be said of the PMDB deputies.  Opposition deputies 
will probably try to reveal as much information as possible 
that could damage the Lula administration.  Whether the CPI 
attributes all blame for the accident to the Americans or 
also blames Brazilians could depend in part on what, if any, 
instructions the PMDB deputies receive from their party 
leadership. 
 
PMDB Wants Top Jobs in Second Tier; Threatened 
Non-Cooperation in CPI 
----------------------------------- 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶3.    (SBU)  According to press reports and an informed 
congressman who discussed the issue with poloff, the PMDB 
leadership threatened the Lula administration with an 
uncooperative stance in the CPI.  This could increase the 
CPI's damage to the government if it does not meet the PMDB's 
demands for second-tier federal jobs.  The PMDB recently 
parlayed its good showing at the polls last October into a 
 
BRASILIA 00000872  002 OF 003 
 
 
hefty increase from two seats to five at the Cabinet table, 
and is now seeking to increase its control over more posts 
and resources.  There are dozens of second-tier directorships 
at stake, including public utilities, transportation, 
financial bodies, public infrastructure, and other government 
organizations.  In turn, the new directors can create a 
cascade of spoils by appointing party cronies as managers 
deep down into the organizations, affecting thousands of 
jobs.  According to the April 16, 2007, edition of Epoca 
magazine, there are 24,000 such jobs (cargos comissionados) 
in the federal government. 
 
Congressman: PMDB Tried to "Extort" Government 
------------ --------------------------------- 
 
¶4.    (C)  Federal Deputy Raul Henry (PMDB, Pernambuco) 
(protect), one of a handful of PMDB deputies who usually 
votes against his party and with the opposition, told poloff 
on May 10 that the PMDB leadership attempted "extortion" to 
achieve its goals.  PMDB President Michel Temer, a Federal 
Deputy from Sao Paulo, and PMDB Chamber leader Henrique 
Eduardo Alves, from Rio Grande do Norte, offered the 
government two slates of deputies for the CPI on the Air 
Traffic Crisis, a "hard" one and a "soft" one.  The hard 
slate was composed of deputies who could be relied upon to 
take their investigatory duties seriously and go rough on the 
government.  The soft slate was composed of yes-men who would 
go along with the government's damage control efforts.  If 
the government did not accede to PMDB demands for second-tier 
jobs, Henry said, the PMDB would install its hard slate in 
the CPI.  As it turned out, though, after a Supreme Court 
ruling that ordered the Chamber to establish the CPI, the CPI 
started its work before the second-tier jobs issue was 
resolved.  The PMDB was prematurely forced to decide which 
slate it would put forward.  Henry said the PMDB leaders 
opted for the soft slate, probably in anticipation that it 
would increase the party's chances of doing well in the 
appointments process.  Putting forward the hard slate would 
have been counterproductive, effectively punishing the 
government in advance when the jobs outcome was still 
unknown.  With the jobs issue still unresolved but the soft 
slate installed, the PMDB was threatening rebellion in the 
CPI if its demands were not satisfied, according to press 
reports on May 11.  (Note: The PMDB was already dissatisfied, 
as a Chamber vote this week on federal funds for cities 
revealed; this threat raised the ante for the government.) 
By May 15 the situation appeared different: Federal Deputy 
Eduardo Cunha, a spokesman for PMDB deputies threatening 
obstruction, said the party would not force the jobs issue 
through the CPI.  On May 15 poloff checked this with Nivaldo 
Ferreira, a adviser in the PMDB's offices in the Chamber of 
Deputies.  He said the pressure for federal jobs comes both 
from the leadership as well as the backbench deputies, but 
the party will not condition its behavior in the CPI on jobs, 
adding that the PMDB supports the government and will be 
responsive to it. 
 
Government Deputies on CPI Will Try to Divert Attention from 
Real Shortcomings 
-------------------------------------- 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Still, the PMDB's threats could yield fruit 
because the government is vulnerable to damage by the CPI's 
findings, and PMDB bad behavior would be harmful.  One way 
for the government to minimize the public and institutional 
damage is to blame others.  Jornal do Brasil political 
columnist Anna Ramalho pointed this out on May 14.  She said 
government deputies on the CPI are trying to focus the 
 
BRASILIA 00000872  003 OF 003 
 
 
investigation of the Gol crash on the American pilots in 
order to divert attention from shortcomings in the Brazilian 
air traffic control system, which falls under the Brazilian 
Air Force. 
 
¶6.    (U)  Government coalition deputies hold 16 seats on the 
CPI, and the opposition holds eight.  The PMDB holds the 
chairmanship, and three seats on the 24-member committee. 
The chairman may vote only to break a tie.  The Workers Party 
(PT), the party of president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, holds 
four seats, including the critical role of rapporteur. 
 
Senate to Open Own Air Traffic Investigation 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶7.    (C)  On the other side of Congress, the Senate is 
preparing to open its own CPI into the air traffic crisis. 
Poloff spoke with Senator Sergio Guerra (Brazilian Social 
Democracy Party, Pernambuco) (protect) on May 10.  Asked 
about his expectations of the Senate's CPI, Guerra said only 
that "the CPI should not be an anti-corruption CPI."  He felt 
it should focus on the specific problems affecting air 
traffic, although it may discover corruption in process.  He 
did not comment on a possible Senate CPI interest in the role 
of the American pilots.  (Note: Ref B reported a Federal 
Deputy's expectation that corruption would be a major focus 
of an air traffic CPI.)  Another leading opposition figure, 
Senator Antonio Carlos Magalhaes (Democrats, Bahia), was 
probably alluding to the PMDB's tactics when he said in the 
plenary on May 14 that the Senate's CPI will be "serious and 
impartial" because the Senators do not want to "trade their 
consciences for emoluments from the government."  He insisted 
that the Senate CPI must not spare from scrutiny the National 
Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC), the airports administration 
(Infraero), the Air Force, or the airlines. 
 
¶8.    (C)  Comment:  The PMDB leadership's pressure tactics 
reconfirm the party's strong tendency to put its own welfare 
above ideology or the national interest.  This is business as 
usual for the PMDB and a number of other non-ideological 
parties.  Although Lula arguably had no alternative, in 
acceding to PMDB demands for a large role in the cabinet, he 
reinforced the spoils system and let the camel's nose into 
the tent for his second term.  As the largest party in both 
houses of Congress, the PMDB will probably offer more such 
examples of "extortion," as Deputy Henry put it, trying the 
government's patience and reinforcing the system.  If it is 
true the PMDB has backed away from conditioning its deputies' 
behavior in the CPI on spoils at the federal trough, we may 
have had a "near miss" that could have been unfair to the 
American pilots.  Regardless, the PMDB's attempted 
politicization of the CPI bodes ill for a dispassionate 
rendering of the facts in the Legacy/Gol 1907 crash. 
 
Sobel