Brazil: Trumpism in the backyard and the assault of the Bolsonaristas

The striking assault on the US Capitol already has its counterpart in South America. This Sunday, a crowd dressed in yellow-green shirts stormed the three emblematic seats of political power in Brazil: the Planalto Palace, the Congress and the Supreme Court.

After breaking through a police cordon, supporters of former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro violently attacked the facilities and beat up some of the policemen who tried to contain them, reports RT.

In videos broadcasted on social networks, many of the attendees documented the destruction and the attacks on police officers, although recordings also circulated in which uniformed officers were seen in an apparent passive attitude while the protesters perpetrated the takeover.

In a few minutes of confusion and merriment, the scene of the emphatic structures of the architect Oscar Niemeyer surrounded by hundreds of people who called for the resignation of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and a military intervention, spread on social networks, barely a week after the leader of the Workers’ Party (PT) assumed his third term. In the midst of the stupor, the question was the same: how was this irruption possible?A key official

The protesters, identified with the former president of Brazil, did not appear out of nowhere. For the past two months, many of them have been ‘camping’ (in tents) near the Army Headquarters, where they have gathered to ignore the result of the closest election in the country’s history.

Under the theories of a fraud that they have not been able to prove, the radicals demand the release of the «source code» that would verify the alleged rigging in the past elections, which gave Lula victory with just over 1% of the votes.

The banners with that message were being waved during the seizure of the three powers, while the rest of the country began to ask who was responsible for the situation. The first focuses were fixed on the governor of the Federal District, Ibaneis Rocha, who assured that he had given the order to all the police forces to contain the protesters.

However, hours later, Rocha announced the dismissal of his Secretary of Public Security, Anderson Torres, who served as Minister of Justice of the Bolsonaro Government, between 2021 and 2022.

Rocha also apologized to Lula and to the rest of the powers attacked during the day: “What happened today was unacceptable. […] They are true vandals, true terrorists», he said in a video posted on social networks.Brazil surprises the world

Despite the excuses, the minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) of Brazil, Alexandre de Moraes, decided to suspend Rocha, for 90 days, after the events that occurred.

According to Moraes, Ibaneis was aware of the preparations for the events, since the actions could only take place with «the consent, and even effective participation of the competent authorities in matters of public security», reported local media.

«Absolutely nothing justifies the omission and conspiracy of the Secretary of Public Security and the Governor of the Federal District with criminals who previously announced that they would commit violent acts against the constituted powers», wrote the minister.

In addition, the agency established the immediate dismantling of the Bolsonaro ‘camp’ in front of the Army headquarters. The decision includes the arrest in flagrante of its participants.

Local press reports claimed that Torres was on vacation in the US, which sparked a wave of repudiation and a request from the Attorney General’s Office (AGU) to prosecute him as allegedly responsible for the excesses.

Meanwhile, Bolsonaro is in the United States. His trip to North American territory occurred days before Lula’s inauguration ceremony, which not only made the ex-president the great absentee from the transfer, but also sealed his resounding silence about his electoral defeat.Intervention in Brasilia

The most anticipated words of the day were those of Lula. The president intervened to condemn the event «unprecedented in the history» of Brazil and issued a decree that allows him to militarize the Federal District, through an intervention that will be in force until next January 31.

Ricardo García Capelli, current executive secretary of the Ministry of Justice, was the person nominated as controller and among his powers he will have the power to ask civil and military bodies, of federal public administration, all the means necessary to carry out his work.

Lula defended the decree as a necessary measure given the magnitude of the events, and that they «seriously» compromised public order, also attributing responsibility to his predecessor.

«This is also the responsibility of him and of the parties that belong to him [Bolsonaro]», denounced Lula, after recalling the speeches of the far-right to attack the powers of the State. In the same way, he affirmed that if any member of his government facilitated the violent action in Brasilia «by omission», that person would have to assume what corresponds before the Justice system.

In his speech, the president announced that he would travel to Brasilia to verify the magnitude of the damage caused to the public authorities’ buildings, and guaranteed that this type of action will not happen again.

«I lost the elections in 1989, I lost in 1994, I lost elections in 1998, and at no time, in history, did you see militants from my party or from the left do any humiliation to an elected president of the Republic», recalled the leader of the Workers’ Party (PT).The retake of the governmental buildings, arrests and investigations in Brazil

After the intervention of the Brazilian president, spokesmen for Congress joined the voices of repudiation of the acts of vandalism, while the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil gave its support to the decision of the federal authorities in the capital.

Shortly after, local media announced the retake of the facilities, while the Civil Police confirmed the arrest of 300 protesters.

Meanwhile, the Liberal Party —which championed Bolsonaro— distanced itself from the violent protests, although in an ambiguous tone it gave its support to the ‘camp’ in front of the Barracks.

«It is a shame for all of us, they do not represent our party or Bolsonaro», said the president of the Liberal Party, Valdemar Costa Neto, in a statement posted on social networks. In that video, the spokesman assured that the movements carried out by the Bolsonaro militants «were all peaceful».

But beyond the voices of the Brazilian political scene that came out to reject the violence, during the day, the international reaction to support the incoming government was very strong. Countries like Venezuela, Mexico, Ecuador, Cuba, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina, Colombia and Spain were the first to speak out to condemn the irruption of Bolsonarismo against the three State powers and also denounce the anti-democratic nature of the demonstrations.

«As president of Celac and Mercosur, I put the member countries on alert so that we unite in this unacceptable anti-democratic reaction that is trying to be imposed in Brazil», said the Argentine president, Alberto Fernández.

Hours later, Bolsonaro broke his hermetic silence and took a stand against the violent day: “Peaceful demonstrations, within the law, are part of democracy. However, the depredations and invasions of public buildings such as those that occurred today, as well as those practiced by the left in 2013 and 2017, are beyond the rule», he wrote on his Twitter account.

The former president assured that throughout his term he «always» remained «within the four lines of the Constitution, respecting and defending the laws, democracy, transparency and sacred freedom».

In addition, he expressed his «repudiation» of the accusations «without evidence» attributed to him by the current head of State, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in connection with an attempted coup.

Thus, less than a week after assuming his third term, Lula faces his first major political crisis with a movement that shows muscle to reveal the political fracture in Brazil, while the leader of part of the rift is in the United States.