What is known about the confusion in Rio that led to the dismissal of Washington Reis

The acting governor of Rio de Janeiro, Rodrigo Bacellar (União), dismissed the state secretary of Transportation, Washington Reis (MDB), this Thursday 3. They are declared enemies.

The resignation occurred during Governor Cláudio Castro's (PL) trip to Portugal. Bacellar, president of the Legislative Assembly, took over the government in the absence of the incumbent because vice-president Thiago Pampolha was appointed to the Rio de Janeiro Court of Auditors.

Speaking to RJ2 , on TV Globo , Bacellar called Reis “insubordinate” and stated that Castro was unaware of the dismissal. “It is natural that the governor gives me the freedom to act, and it is with this freedom that I made this decision, solely and exclusively deliberate, which is my responsibility.”

Reis, in turn, said that Bacellar's decision has no value and that he heard from Castro on Wednesday 2 a message of tranquility about his permanence in the government.

“He wasn’t elected, he’s not governor. The governor is returning on Monday, I have a great relationship with the governor,” declared the MDB member. “He did it to show off. If he had put a watermelon around his neck, it would have been even more plausible.”

Tensions between the adversaries escalated last Monday, the 30th. The Alerj approved the summoning of Reis to testify before the House committees, a decision contested by deputy Rosenverg Reis (MDB), the secretary's brother. At the time, there was a heated argument. “The time for you to think that your brother is in charge of the state of Rio is over,” said Bacellar.

This dispute is directly related to the 2026 elections. Bacellar is Castro's candidate to succeed him, while Reis — although ineligible — has other plans and is intensifying his relationship with the capital's mayor, Eduardo Paes (PSD).

As detailed in a report in the print edition of CartaCapital this week, Washington Reis was an ally of Lula in the PT's first two governments and has become a friend of the Bolsonaro family since he moved to the far right in 2018. He is a strong name for both the Senate and the state government.

Reis is ineligible, but an order signed on June 23 by Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes rekindled the secretary's hope of reversing his legal situation.

He is seeking to overturn a 7-year prison sentence for environmental crime and irregular subdivision when he was mayor of Duque de Caxias. One of the arguments is that there were changes in the rules of the National Environmental Council that supported the conviction and, therefore, the crime would no longer be considered. This thesis is known as abolitio criminis .

The Supreme Court's ruling is not in his favor : the rapporteur, Flávio Dino, voted to maintain the sentence, in a statement supported by Alexandre de Moraes and Cristiano Zanin. There is only one vote in favor of Reis, which came from Minister André Mendonça.

The trial was interrupted by a request for review by Gilmar in March. In the June ruling, the dean has not yet cast his vote, but issued an opinion on a possible non-prosecution agreement that would benefit the Secretary .

In these cases, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office understands that an agreement, generally involving some type of financial compensation, would be sufficient to suppress the irregularities identified during the investigation.

In other words: in practice, the conviction against Reis, which resulted in the loss of his political rights, could be converted into “reparation for environmental damage”, as written by Gilmar, who endorsed the thesis that the process is “permeated by strong controversies”.