Shameful Betrayal: Brazilian Congress Signals Green Light for Lula’s Disgraced Pick Despite Mounting Scandals
By Hotspotnews
In a display of political cynicism that should outrage every freedom-loving Brazilian, the Senate is barreling forward with the confirmation process for Jorge Messias, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s handpicked nominee for the Supreme Federal Court (STF). The confirmation hearing—known as the sabatina—is locked in for April 29, 2026, with a full Senate vote expected the same day. This comes as Lula’s administration reels from fresh corruption allegations involving his own family, yet self-serving senators appear ready to hand the embattled president another loyalist on the nation’s highest court.
Messias, currently Lula’s Attorney General, is widely viewed as a reliable extension of the PT machine. His rapid advancement, complete with a favorable report from the rapporteur, exposes the rotten core of Brasília’s deal-making culture. Senate President Davi Alcolumbre has orchestrated the timeline with surgical precision: Messias gets his shot on the 29th, followed immediately by a joint congressional session on April 30 to consider overriding Lula’s veto on the PL da Dosimetria—the bill that could bring sanity and reduced sentences to those convicted in the January 8, 2023 events.
This back-to-back scheduling reeks of the classic Brazilian “acordão”—a backroom bargain where principles are traded for power. The government secures its ideological foothold on the STF, while some centrists and opposition figures get a glimmer of hope on sentencing reform. But make no mistake: advancing Messias amid Lula’s scandals signals contempt for the Brazilian people.
Lula’s third term has been marred by one embarrassment after another. His son, Fábio Luís Lula da Silva—derisively known as Lulinha—faces intensifying scrutiny over alleged ties to massive INSS pension fraud schemes. Congressional probes have pierced bank and tax secrecy, revealing millions in suspicious movements. Federal Police investigations link him to lobbyists at the heart of billion-real scams, with reports of lavish trips funded by those under investigation and whispers of plea bargains naming family members. Even as these horrors unfold, Lula’s approval ratings hover in the low-to-mid 40s, with disapproval often higher, reflecting public fatigue with recycled PT-era corruption narratives.
Yet here we are. Senators, many of whom face their own re-election battles in 2026, are signaling willingness to rubber-stamp a nominee whose primary qualification appears to be unwavering loyalty to a president whose family is once again entangled in influence-peddling accusations. This is not governance; it is entrenchment of a judicial-political cartel that has long prioritized protecting the powerful over delivering justice.
Conservatives and patriots have every right to be horrified. The STF has already become a politicized weapon in recent years, issuing decisions that stretch constitutional bounds and target dissenters. Installing another government ally only deepens that rot, further eroding trust in institutions already stained by selective prosecutions and leniency for allies.
The Brazilian people deserve better than this spectacle of impunity. Voters must remember these senators’ names when ballots are cast. Those who enable Lula’s agenda—scandals be damned—have forfeited any claim to represent honest citizens. They prioritize short-term horse-trading over accountability, backroom deals over the rule of law, and personal survival over national renewal.
The upcoming votes on April 29 and 30 will test whether any spine remains in Congress. If Messias sails through despite the stench surrounding Lula’s circle, it will confirm what many already suspect: too many in Brasília are complicit in perpetuating a system that shields the elite while ordinary Brazilians suffer the consequences of weak institutions and moral decay.
Enough is enough. These men cannot be rewarded with re-election. The path to reclaiming Brazil demands rejecting this shameful theater and demanding representatives who place justice, transparency, and the people’s will above partisan loyalty. The horror unfolding in the Senate is a wake-up call—ignore it at the nation’s peril.