Violence and corruption are among the main concerns of the Brazilian population. This scenario is reflected in recent surveys that seek to map what is on citizens' radar and how this may influence their political decisions. 

In one of its most recent reports, Quaest Pesquisa shows that 271,300 people list violence as one of the biggest issues in Brazil today, followed by corruption, mentioned by 201,300 of those surveyed. 

Beyond the daily lives of ordinary citizens, these issues also occupy space in the National Congress, which, at the beginning of March, made progress on the topic through the approval of the Anti-Faction Bill in the Chamber of Deputies. 

In an exclusive interview with the RenovaBR blog, Senator and leader Alessandro Vieira discusses the importance of advancing dialogue on these issues, and how the motivations for entering politics remain present in his work as a parliamentarian to this day.

Public safety at the center of the debate

According to the senator, the advancement of discussions on public security in the National Congress is an important step given the growing public concern on the subject. He believes that the issue has occupied an increasingly relevant agenda in the Legislature. Even so, when analyzing the text recently approved in the Chamber of Deputies – the Anti-Faction Bill, of which he was the rapporteur in his respective house – the parliamentarian considers that the complexity of organized crime in Brazil was not fully addressed. 

According to him, it is necessary to recognize that these organizations operate in a structured way and with a great capacity for economic and political articulation. "Organized crime requires financial structure and the ability to penetrate public power. These are activities that mobilize billions of reais," he points out. 

According to the senator, despite representing progress in the debate on public safety, the bill ended up missing the opportunity to expand tools for combating more sophisticated organized crime — especially those operating with complex financial schemes.

Another point he highlighted is that the text also failed to clearly structure funding mechanisms for permanent actions to combat these organizations. Therefore, although it toughens penalties, the project would still have limited reach given the scale of the challenge.

“The public security agenda will dominate the debates, but it has an inherent risk, which is the risk of penal populism,” he says. According to him, many proposals rely on symbolic measures, such as increased penalties or changes that generate strong electoral appeal, but which do not attack the pillars that support criminal organizations.

"For Brazil to effectively have a project to combat organized crime, we need political leaders with the intention and adequate legislation for it. We need adequate investment, a robust budget, and integration between the forces for consistent intelligence work," he points out. 

The role of the Senate in public safety. 

In this sense, one of the initiatives led by the senator is the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into Organized Crime. According to him, the commission's objective is to map the presence of these structures in the country and broaden public understanding of their operating mechanisms. "The Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into organized crime is our initiative to map crime in Brazil and make people understand that it is infiltrated in society and in public power," he explains.

For him, the fight will only be possible if it happens on different fronts simultaneously – in the streets, with the retaking of territories historically dominated by factions; in the financial system, with a careful and transparent look at resources; and also in the regulatory field, to prevent new ways for crime to infiltrate different levels of power. 

Regarding his parliamentary work on these issues, Vieira emphasizes that the Senate has characteristics that allow for a more in-depth review of proposals within the house. The small number of parliamentarians and the technical support from consulting firms, according to him, contribute to more detailed analyses of draft laws.

“Over the past few years, at least in the eight years I've been in the Senate, I've seen that the house has often acted as a barrier to prevent excesses and mistakes by the Executive branch and the Chamber of Deputies. And this year we will have an extremely important election for the renewal of seats,” he points out. 

In the area of oversight, he states that monitoring and control actions have helped to prevent or recover money in public funds. In the legislative field, he cites the so-called "Digital ECA" as one of the most relevant initiatives, legislation aimed at protecting children and adolescents in the online environment.

Another highlight of his career was his role as rapporteur for the emergency aid program during the pandemic. According to him, the initially proposed project would have benefited around 20 million Brazilians, but it ended up being expanded to around 70 million after changes in Congress.

From education to service in the Senate.

The senator recalls the beginning of his political career and highlights the role of the training he received at RenovaBR in that process. Without prior political experience, he explains that he sought out a training school to better understand how the political system works and ended up joining the school's first class. "RenovaBR was fundamental in the initial stage of my training and also in its continuation," he says.

For him, one of the main distinguishing features of the initiative lies in the diversity of profiles and the ability to train leaders who engage with different ideological positions. “I see that there isn't an important issue in the country that doesn't have the direct participation of someone who has gone through RenovaBR. From education to the economy. And the most important thing is the ability to engage with dissenting views. There's no partisan or ideological label, but there is a concern for qualification, something that parliament is unlearning,” he states. According to the senator, this training experience contributes to strengthening an essential skill in Parliament: building consensus among differing viewpoints.

Before entering politics, he worked as a police officer and states that his decision to run for office stemmed from frustration with the institutional limitations he faced in the fight against corruption. "I pushed myself to the limit of what I could do as a technician," he says. "That's when I understood that the political agent is the one who ultimately has control."

He says he never had the personal goal of holding an elected office, but came to see politics as the necessary space to promote structural changes. In 2018, he ran for Senate in Sergipe with a low-cost campaign and ended up being elected with a large majority.

Photo: Rushfy