Economist Edmar Bacha, one of the fathers of the Real Plan, wrote an article in Piauí magazine about Chico Lopes, who died in May, stating that he was the main victim of one of the most persistent injustices in recent Brazilian economic history. Lopes was the creator of the Copom and the formulator of the heterodox shock that gave rise to the Cruzado Plan.
Bacha refers to the events of early 1999, at the most dramatic moment in the Real's life, when the managed exchange rate was broken and the floating exchange rate was adopted. At the time, Lopes was president of the Central Bank.
For his actions during those days, Lopes was accused of unduly rescuing two small banks, Marka and FonteCindam. In the case of Marka, he was also accused of selling insider information to banker Salvatore Cacciola, the bank's owner, through his consulting firm.
