The script had already been written and performed in the United States in January 2021. It only had to be replicated and the supporters of the far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro They did it this Sunday, a week after the inauguration of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as president of Brazil. The invasion of congressthe Palacio del Platanato and the headquarters of the Supreme Court in Brasilia by thousands of fans bolsonaristas, an unprecedented attack in Brazil, is a true reflection of what happened in Washington two years ago when supporters of Donald Trump seized the Capitol. Lula was on an official trip to the state of São Paulo, from where he described the attackers as “fascist vandals” and accused Bolsonaro, who remains in Florida, of encouraging the assault.
Armed with sticks and draped in Brazilian flags, the bolsonaristas invaded the Esplanade of the Ministries of Brasilia in mid-afternoon on Sunday and broke into public buildings without much trouble despite the police presence. Once inside, they recorded their own destruction on videos, just as the fans did trumpists at the Capitol. The demonstrators had previously camped next to the main military headquarters in Brasilia and were demanding the intervention of the Army to overthrow the progressive leader, something that has not happened.
When the situation seemed already under control by the forces of order and the first arrests were made, Lula appeared from the state of São Paulo to make it clear that he was still in command. The Brazilian president read a decree by which his government intervenes until the end of the month the functions of the Secretariat of Public Security of the Federal District of Brasilia, headed by Anderson Torres, former Minister of Justice of Bolsonaro until eight days ago. Lula was blunt: “They have acted like true vandals fascists. All the people who have participated [en el asalto] they will be punished. They did what has never been done in the history of this country.”
After the assault on the headquarters of the three branches of the State, the governor of Brasilia, the right-wing Ibaneis Rocha, has abruptly dismissed Anderson Torres, who according to the Brazilian press is in the United States. Although Torres had been quick to condemn the attack on his Twitter account, the truth is that the deployment of police around the Plaza de los Tres Poderes left much to be desired, as well as the attitude of some agents, who were saw taking photos with the bolsonaristas. Torres has always shown himself to be complacent with the most extreme sectors of the Bolsonarism and he will have to answer now for his positioning. The Liberal Party (PL) with which Bolsonaro ran for the elections has also wanted to distance itself from the assault. The PL is the main political force in a Congress dominated by right-wing and center-right formations.
The violent action by Bolsonaro’s supporters comes nine days after the former Brazilian president left the country (just before Lula’s inauguration on January 1) to avoid handing over the presidential sash to his successor. he flew to Florida and there it remains. Since he lost the election in the second round of elections at the end of October, he has remained silent for the most part. But before the elections he had insinuated on several occasions that he would not recognize a hypothetical victory for Lula at the polls.
During the entire electoral campaign, the ghost of a coup attempt or a regressionist plot in the event that Bolsonaro loses the elections. The far-right leader had tried unsuccessfully to eliminate the electronic voting system that has been in force in the country for years. He even went so far as to propose that a committee of senior military commanders carry out a parallel audit of the scrutiny.
Social support for Bolsonaro has been shown to be stronger than the polls predicted at the time. He forced a runoff election with Lula and was only two points away from the ex-unionist on October 30. The 58 million votes that he obtained then (49%) were tangible proof that the Bolsonarism It wasn’t going to disappear overnight.
hate speech
Bolsonaro was propagating hate speech for four years that has penetrated a not inconsiderable sector of the population. That political violence who has presided over his mandate has had its maximum expression this Sunday in Brasilia with the invasion of the headquarters of the three powers of the State. Although the extreme right has its own characteristics in each country in the Americas, the parallels between what happened in Brazil and the seizure of the Capitol in January 2021 are evident. Trumpthe outgoing president at the time, had not accepted the victory of Democrat Joe Biden and spoke of electoral fraud over and over again.
Despite the fact that Bolsonaro is a former Army captain and placed hundreds of soldiers in positions in his Administration (from ministers to middle positions), the Armed Forces will not meet the demands of the bolsonaristas to overthrow Lula. Brazil is the largest and most influential country in Latin America and a military coup would not be tolerated by its neighbors or the White House. Several leaders of the region have immediately expressed their solidarity with Lula and their forceful rejection of the regressive actions of Bolsonaro’s followers. Gustavo Petro (Colombia), Alberto Fernández (Argentina), Andrés Manuel López Obrador (Mexico) and gabriel boric (Chile), among others, have closed ranks with the progressive Brazilian leader.
fanaticism bolsonarista he had already left some clues as to how he would receive Lula’s third presidential term. In the days prior to January 1, when Lula took office, an ultra sympathizer had been arrested who was trying to put up a bomb in Brasilia. And camps had already been organized next to military barracks in various parts of the country demanding the intervention of the Armed Forces.
The invasion of Congress, the Planalto Palace and the headquarters of the Supreme Court carried out by the bolsonaristas radically changes the political scenario in Brazil. Lula has just formed a very transversal government, with prominent members of the progressive Workers’ Party together with representatives of the center-right, environmentalists and human rights activists. His highest priority until now was the fight against poverty, a scourge that continues to affect millions of Brazilians. The terrorist act of bolsonaristas and his coup claims will force Lula to focus now on forcefully eradicating the political violence installed by Bolsonaro.
