SP Chamber wants CPI to investigate Father Julio Lancelloti’s actions

After the parliamentary recess at the end of January, the São Paulo City Council is expected to open a parliamentary commission of inquiry (CPI) to investigate non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that operate in the Cracolândia region, a popular name given to a region in the center of the capital of São Paulo occupied by drug users and addicts. Currently, they are dispersed throughout the streets of the central region of São Paulo.

The request for the creation of the CPI “with the purpose of investigating Non-Governmental Organizations that provide food, utensils for the use of illicit substances and treatment to groups of users who frequent the Cracolândia region”, as described in the document, has already gathered information. required signatures and was filed with the Chamber on December 6th of last year. However, this does not mean that the commission will be installed immediately: there is a queue of proposals from other CPIs in the Chamber and the request would still need to be approved in plenary.

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The author of the proposal is councilor Rubinho Nunes (União Brasil), one of the co-founders of Movimento Brasil Livre (MBL). He placed the main focus of the CPI on the work of Father Julio Lancellotti, who has been carrying out important and recognized care work for homeless people in the city of São Paulo for many years. The A Craco Resiste movement will also be the target of this CPI.

On his social networks, councilor Rubinho Nunes wrote that Father Julio Lancellotti and “many others profit politically from the chaos created in Cracolândia”. “The CPI that I am establishing in the São Paulo City Council will investigate this entire mafia of misery that is perpetuated in power through leftist NGOs.”

Representing the opposition, the PT leader in the Chamber, councilor Senival Moura, contested the creation of the CPI. “As leader of the group of PT councilors in the São Paulo Chamber, I express my deep indignation with the approval of the creation of the CPI of NGOs, which targets Father Julio Lancellotti. This measure seems more like an attempt to restrict critical voices than a legitimate search for transparency. It is a clear disrespect for the social and humanitarian work carried out by Father Júlio, who has been a tireless voice in defense of the most vulnerable. We will resist this political instrumentalization and fight for the preservation of democratic and social values,” he wrote on his social networks.

PT councilor Luna Zarattini reported having filed this Wednesday (3) a complaint against councilor Rubinho Nunes with the Chamber's Internal Affairs Office. “We have just filed a representation with the Chamber of Internal Affairs against the Bolsonaro councilor who is trying to persecute and attack Father Julio,” she said, in a video published on Instagram.

In a note, Father Julio Lancellotti wrote that the CPIs are legitimate, but informed that he does not belong “to any civil society organization or non-governmental organization that uses an agreement with the Municipal Public Power”. “The activity of Pastoral de Rua is a pastoral action of the Archdiocese of São Paulo which, in turn, is not linked, in any way, to the activities that constitute the approved application for the creation of the CPI in question.”

Craco Resiste, in turn, informed that it is not an NGO. “We are a militant project to resist oppression together with socially unprotected people in the Cracolândia region. We work on the harm reduction front, with the links created with cultural and leisure activities. And we denounce the policy of brutality and insecurity promoted by the city hall and the state government”, he said, in a statement.

“Those trying to profit from misery are these white men full of empty catchphrases who try to use Cracolândia as a showcase for their personal projects. It is not the first and we know that it will not be the last dishonest attack against A Craco Resiste”, wrote the movement.