CARLOS PETROCILO
SÃO PAULO, SP (FOLHAPRESS)
Accused of racism, lawyer Camilo Cristófaro, 62, (Avante) became the fourth São Paulo councilor impeached since the country’s redemocratization. The list does not consider politicians who lost their mandate due to electoral decisions, such as party infidelity.
With the Plenary’s decision this Tuesday (19), he loses his mandate for breach of parliamentary decorum and will be ineligible for the next eight years.
Before him, Vicente Viscome and Hanna Garib had their mandates revoked in 1999 as a result of the Tax Mafia scandal, during the administration of Mayor Celso Pitta (1997-2000). Among the crimes were extortion from street vendors and a payment scheme to release permits.
In the same year, Maeli Vergniano lost her mandate due to the improper use of a car provided by a contractor who collected garbage in the city.
Viscome was the one who led the way and was imprisoned for almost seven years. He lost his mandate accused of “using his mandate as a councilor to obtain undue financial advantages”, according to the Mafia’s CPI, and died in November 2021.
Garib was impeached in June 1999 by the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo (Alesp), but as a result of his work as a councilor. He was identified as one of the leaders in collecting bribes from merchants in the Sé region, between 1993 and 1999.
Cristófaro, therefore, goes down in history as the first to lose his mandate due to racism. In May 2022, the councilor was caught in a CPI session at the City Council saying “they didn’t wash the sidewalk, it’s a black thing”.
He entered the Chamber in 2016, with a speech against “the fine industry”. He became known for making videos, published on the internet, of situations in which traffic inspectors fined drivers in São Paulo. In 1993, in fact, he was appointed by Paulo Maluf to superintend CET (Traffic Engineering Company).
In this first term, the Avante councilor had already been impeached after the Chamber complied with a decision by the Electoral Court. According to the Public Electoral Ministry, he had used resources of illicit origin in the campaign. Cristófaro, however, obtained a favorable decision from the STF (Supreme Federal Court) and returned to the House.
In the first session, he referred to councilor Thammy Miranda (PL) in the feminine category. “Greeting Thammy, who I saw born, Maria Odete’s daughter.”
Called Camilinho by colleagues in the House, he collected dislikes in both terms, which in fact further inflamed the councilors in this impeachment process.
Last year, Cristófaro got involved in discussions with Adilson Amadeu (União Brasil) in the WhatsApp group with other legislators.
In 2019, he called councilor Fernando Holiday (Novo) an auditorium monkey. The previous year, he pulled his eyes referring to councilor George Hato (MDB), who has Japanese ancestry.
He was also accused by nursing assistant Dilza Maria Pereira da Silva of racial slurs. The case is pending in court.
In March 2022, he also allegedly called a woman a slut during a visit by Mayor Ricardo Nunes (MDB) in the Parque Bristol neighborhood, according to the police report. “That’s a lie, do you have a video that shows (the confusion)?”, the councilor told the reporter at the time, before hanging up the phone.
Before assuming the seat of councilor, Cristófaro was part of the administrations of mayors Jânio Quadros, as a cabinet officer, Pitta (president of CET for a month) and Marta Suplicy (director of Prodam, the Information and Communication Technology Company of the Municipality of São Paulo).
He became chief of staff for the presidency of the Chamber under the administration of Antonio Carlos Rodrigues (PR), from 2007 to 2010, and José Américo (PT), in 2013-14.
The post Cristófaro is the 4th councilor impeached in SP since redemocratization appeared first in Jornal de Brasília.
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