Ronaldo Caiado, the presidential candidate for the PSD party, said on Tuesday that if elected he will send Congress a bill granting a 'general and broad' amnesty to those convicted over the January 8, 2023 attack on Brazil's government buildings, including former president Jair Bolsonaro. The remarks came during a televised interview on Rede Globo's flagship evening news program, part of a series of sit-down interviews with 2026 presidential candidates conducted by anchors Renata Vasconcellos and Cesar Tralli, according to G1.
Caiado compared the proposed amnesty to the Supreme Court's 2021 decision to annul corruption convictions against President Lula, which restored his political rights. 'In the same way, the Supreme Court granted a special amnesty to former president Lula,' Caiado said, according to G1. However, Folha de S.Paulo noted the comparison is inaccurate: Lula was not granted amnesty by the court, which instead annulled his convictions after finding procedural flaws in the 'Car Wash' (Lava Jato) corruption probe, not through a pardon. Lula spent 580 days in prison after being convicted of corruption and money laundering in a case involving a beachfront apartment, and was released in November 2019.
On fiscal policy, Caiado promised to send Congress a constitutional amendment on the first day of his prospective government that would cap growth in federal spending at inflation plus 50% of GDP growth. Pressed by the anchors for the calculations behind that target, Caiado asked for 'patience,' comparing Brazil's fiscal situation to a car-accident victim who has not yet been examined by doctors. According to Folha, Caiado avoided directly answering whether he would raise the minimum retirement age, saying he was not in a position to 'detail minutiae' at this stage. He also called Brazil's current fiscal framework a 'big farce' and said he would cut spending across the executive, legislative and judicial branches, as well as at the federal audit court (TCU).
Public safety and pension reform
On public safety, the former governor of Goias state renewed his proposal for a transnational police force among Latin American countries, which he calls 'SulPol,' modeled on Europol, the European Union's police cooperation agency, according to Folha. Per G1, Caiado argued that most governments in the region are now center-right, citing Argentina and Colombia as examples, and said Brazil has become the region's 'biggest drug trafficking hub,' with Brazilian, Colombian and Mexican criminal factions operating there. Under his proposal, the joint force could make arrests on Brazilian soil and in other participating countries, handing suspects over to local authorities, while expanding intelligence sharing among nations.
On the minimum wage, Caiado said he intends to preserve the purchasing power of workers and retirees and pledged to cut what he called 'abusive salaries' in the public sector to set an example. On pension reform, he avoided detailing his own proposals, saying he would seek out the country's 'best minds' to draft suggestions, a reference to economist Bernard Appy, the architect of Brazil's recent tax reform.
Caiado argued that ending political polarization is a precondition for pacifying the country. 'We need to end this polarization, we have to make peace in this country. Nobody can take this situation anymore,' he said, according to G1. The interview is part of a series of televised sit-downs Globo is holding with presidential candidates between August 24 and 29.