(CNN) The employees of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin) have announced the start of a “standard operation” as of Monday (22). The statement comes from the Union of State Intelligence Professionals (Intelis) which, in a statement, also calls President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s (PT) administration at the head of the agency a “government of dismantling”.
A standard operation is a term used when public servants, in protest, start to carry out detailed rules and procedures. The action, although not interruptive, is intended to slow down the pace of work. In practice, this hampers efficiency and productivity, causing delays and difficulties in operations. According to Intelis, the standard operation could jeopardize the holding of the Unified National Competition (CNU), also called the Enem of the competitions, and the G20 meeting, a group that brings together governments from the world’s main economies.
“On the eve of municipal elections, CPNU [Enem dos Concursos], the G20 meeting and the clearing of indigenous lands, critical events and of interest to adverse actors, the government of Brazil decides to give up its intelligence agency and deliberately chooses to make decisions on the basis of improvisation,” Intelis said in a statement. The institution explained to CNN that, as well as working to protect against terrorism, espionage and counter-espionage, Abin also carries out activities in other areas that could suffer losses. One of these is the Enem competition.
The agency is one of the bodies responsible for identifying routes for the transportation of exams and inspectors in regions that are difficult to access, such as the Amazon. Intelis also explained that among the activities that could be affected are appointments to the federal government, since Abin investigates appointments to public positions. The agency is also directly involved in identifying illegal activities and removing intruders from indigenous lands.
Salary Recomposition
In the statement, the Abin employees demand a salary increase and claim that they have been “completely ignored” by the federal government. They argue that no proposals were offered by the Ministry of Management and Innovation (MGI), headed by Esther Dweck. “The MGI even offered us a humiliating zero percent recomposition in 2025 for the base, punishing the only career that has had 20 standards since 2004,” the organization’s note reads.
They also explain that, for the top of the career, the proposal of 9.5% in 2025 and 5% in 2026 was repeated, which they consider unfeasible. Without directly mentioning the case of the parallel Abin, the civil servants also stated that they lived through the “government of deviation” during the mandate of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL). And now, under Lula, they are experiencing the “government of dismantling”.
Parallel Abin
Since last year, the Federal Police (PF) have been investigating the so-called “parallel Abin”, an illegal espionage scheme that was allegedly set up within the agency to monitor Bolsonaro’s government opponents. The PF points out that Supreme Court ministers, deputies, senators, lawyers and journalists were monitored. CNN reached out to the Civil House, but did not hear back.
The report also contacted MGI, which said it had presented a proposal to the category and is continuing negotiations to try to meet the “demands for restructuring the careers of all federal civil servants, while respecting budgetary limits”.
See the full MGI press release: On Thursday (18/07), the Ministry of Management held another round of negotiations with the entities representing ABIN civil servants. On that occasion, the proposal presented by the MGI provides for gains of 14.5% to 25.3% for the category, accumulated from 2023 to 2026. The proposal presented by the government will be taken to the rank and file for consideration. The government is continuing to negotiate in order to meet the demands for restructuring the careers of all federal civil servants, while respecting budgetary limits. So far, 22 agreements have been signed with different categories.