Under pressure, the president of the Post Office resigns; the position is coveted by Alcolumbre

BRASILIA - The president of the Brazilian Post Office , Fabiano Silva , resigned this Friday, the 4th. The company recorded losses of R$1.7 billion in the first quarter of this year and Silva had been under pressure to leave his position for some time. The Centrão is eyeing the leadership of the state-owned company.

Silva's resignation letter was delivered at the Planalto Palace to the head of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's personal office, Marco Aurélio Santana Ribeiro, also known as Marcola. The president is in Rio, where he is participating in the BRICS Summit. The dismissal will only be made official after a meeting between Lula and Silva next week.

Senate President Davi Alcolumbre (União Brasil-AP) is trying to secure allies at the Post Office and Banco do Brasil (BB). Alcolumbre has already discussed the matter with Lula. So far, however, he has resisted replacing BB president Tarciana Medeiros, who is well-regarded at the Planalto Palace.

The shortfall in the Post Office and the changes made by Silva in the state-owned company, however, went against the interests of transport companies and even Congress. Estadão found out that the Chief of Staff, Rui Costa, also wanted Fabiano Silva to be replaced.

The Brazilian Post Office ended 2024 with a loss of R$2.6 billion, four times greater than the R$597 million recorded in the previous year. Until then, the company's worst result had been in 2016, when the deficit reached approximately R$1.5 billion.

A member of the Prerrogativas Group, which brings together lawyers linked to the PT, Silva attributed the company's losses last year to the taxation of international purchases. The tax of up to US$50, created for the import of orders and known as the "blouse tax", caused disastrous consequences for the state-owned company.

Worn out and under an avalanche of criticism, Silva always said that, in addition to this factor, the results of the Post Office were also impacted, to this day, by the legacy received from the government of Jair Bolsonaro.