After Lewandowski’s Exit, Planalto Reassesses Security Overhaul and Warns It May Pull PEC Without Changes

Overview

• Government allies say the PEC da Segurança will not go to a vote in its current form, with José Guimarães stating it is better not to vote than to approve the relator Mendonça Filho’s report as written.
• Planato negotiators set red lines for the PEC that include protecting the Federal Police’s role, reshaping the National Public Security Fund to allow federal-led actions, preserving municipal guards in smaller cities, and restoring the Union’s coordinating authority in the SUSP.
• Mendonça Filho says he has not been approached about changes and projects a floor vote by mid‑March, while House leadership signals the text still requires negotiation before advancing.
• Lula prefers to create a separate Security Ministry only after the PEC is aligned with the government’s design, and any split from the Justice portfolio would require a provisional measure that Congress must convert within 120 days.
• With Lewandowski gone and no successor named, names floated for the Justice post include Wellington Cesar Lima e Silva, Marco Aurélio de Carvalho, Andrei Rodrigues, and Camilo Santana, as Senator Jaques Wagner denies orchestrating support for Wellington and promotes a strategy of financial disruption and technological monitoring against organized crime.