06/22/2024 – 7:20
Accustomed to dealing with weapons, Colonel Ricardo Augusto Nascimento de Mello Araújo could well attribute the choice of his name to be the vice-president of pre-candidate Ricardo Nunes (MDB) to “a shot that backfired”. Mello Araújo recalls that he was in an interview when a reporter asked him who he intended to vote for president: “I replied that I would vote for Bolsonaro”.
Mello Araújo is convinced that the reporter intended to create embarrassment between him and the then governor of São Paulo Geraldo Alckmin, who also ran in the election in 2018. It didn’t work. At the time, the colonel was the commander of Rondas Ostensivas Tobias de Aguiar (Rota) and says he was almost paralyzed when, some time later, Bolsonaro himself, now President of the Republic, appeared at the barracks to pay him a visit.
From that first meeting, a friendship and trusting relationship emerged that grew stronger and closer over the years. In 2020, Bolsonaro invited his friend to be CEO of Companhia de Entrepostos e Armazéns Gerais de São Paulo (Ceagesp), in São Paulo, the largest food warehouse in South America. And, so that no one would have doubts about ownership of the nomination, he recorded a video in which he said: “Believe me: the nomination is personal to me. And this way, you can be sure: Ceagesp will recover everything it lost in the past”.
Militarization
Mello Araújo’s tenure at Ceagesp was marked by the militarization of the public company and by clashes with the Union of Employees in Food Supply Centers of the State of São Paulo (Sindbast). The former Rota commander filled most of the commissioned positions with retired military police officers. He set up a shooting club at the company’s headquarters, in Vila Leopoldina, west of the capital.
Mello Araújo tried to expel Sindbast from Ceagesp, but was prevented by the courts. The organization’s management accuses the colonel of having invaded the union with armed security guards after the court decision. In a statement released at the time, Sindbast stated that the employees and directors of the trade association were intimidated by the armed men who accompanied the colonel. Born in São Paulo, in Largo do Cambuci, the Colonel is 53 years old, married and father of two children. He retired from the PM in 2019, but continued at Ceagesp until the beginning of 2023.
The information is from the newspaper The State of S. Paulo.
#Nunes #deputy #Colonel #Mello #friends #Bolsonaro