The Man Who Pulls The Strings In Brazil

President Bolsonaro sees the head of Brazil’s lower house as a potential rival.

After getting wind of a possible congressional proposal to strip him of some powers, Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro complained that the country’s lawmakers want to make him a ceremonial head of state, like the queen of England. That hasn’t happened yet, but when it comes to setting the nation’s legislative agenda, it’s clear who has the real power: Rodrigo Maia, the speaker of the nation’s lower house.

On July 11, the 49-year-old politician from the center-right Democratas party pushed a revamp of Brazil’s generous social security system past its first and highest legislative hurdle. Pension reform is a necessity that has eluded four previous administrations. Before successfully getting it through the lower house, Maia had spent months uniting 17 fractious parties to finally deliver a measure expected to save almost 1 trillion reais ($267 billion) over the next decade. “Rodrigo Maia built a parliamentary base, which the government doesn’t do and doesn’t have,” says Alexandre Frota, a congressman from Bolsonaro’s own Social Liberal Party (PSL). “Brazil is going to thank him in the future.”

Bolsonaro has squandered much of his political capital because of his belligerence and penchant for fighting culture wars. That leaves Maia to deliver or frustrate the government’s agenda—and to hold Brazil’s democracy together. Maia himself says he’s merely filling a void. “Until now, the executive power has not put forward an agenda for the main issues, from my point of view,” he said in a text message interview.