A surge of violence at the heart of Brazilian democracy. On Sunday, the capital Brasilia was the scene of large-scale scenes of chaos. Thousands of supporters of ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, dressed in the yellow and blue colors of Brazil, stormed the presidential palace, the Supreme Court and the Congress in the Square of the Three Powers, where the three institutions are located .
A week after the inauguration of Lula, a president whose election they contest, protesters have defiled these three places of power in a sad remake of the attack on the Capitol in January 2021 by Trumpist activists. The icon of the Brazilian left estimated Sunday that his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro had “encouraged” the “fascist vandals” to carry out this action. More than 200 people were arrested.
Maud Chiriolecturer at the University of Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée and specialist in the history of the Brazilian military dictatorship, returns to 20 minutes on these events and their consequences.
Where we are ?
The day after this invasion “unprecedented in the history of Brazil”, Lula met with the presidents of the Senate, the Chamber of Deputies and the Supreme Court at the Presidential Palace of Planalto. The interview concluded with a joint statement calling for “the defense of democracy”.
The international community has massively condemned the attack on these symbols of Brazilian political life. US, Canadian and Mexican leaders condemned the attacks and assured Lula of their support, in a joint statement Monday.
China, Russia, Canada, European Union… Argentinian Pope Francis also denounced the violence, while Emmanuel Macron said in a tweet “that the will of the Brazilian people and democratic institutions must be respected”.
“The condemnation of international leaders is fundamental. The challenge is global, it raises the question of the survival of Brazilian democracy. The more the international media cover and the leaders press their support, the easier it will be for Lula to take control of the situation,” said specialist Maud Chirio.
How will Lula be able to govern?
Barely a week after his inauguration, snubbed by his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, the head of state is facing a major political crisis, with a tenacious question: how to govern?
“Taking such institutions by storm is not normally easy. Security issues arise. Lula is faced with a bolsonarization of the state apparatus which can prevent him from governing”, analyzes the researcher.
The attitude of certain members of the police, complacent towards the demonstrators, raises questions. “The very broadly defined armed forces which are equally divided and are in a conflict of loyalty to the legitimization of the central power. It also shows that the transition between a fascistic government and a democratic government is not a simple alternation. The question arises in Brazil, and in all democracies that go through a fascistic experience”, specifies Maud Chirio.
Lula has already started the sweep. Brasilia’s police chief, Anderson Torres, a Bolsonarian former justice minister, was removed from his post. As of Sunday evening, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes suspended for 90 days the governor of the district of Brasilia, Ibaneis Rocha, who had appointed Torres.
And if Lula has won the presidential election, he must deal with a Congress where the support of the ex-president is numerous and the federated states are mainly won over to Bolsonaro.
What responsibility and what future for Jair Bolsonaro?
Through his speech, “Bolsonaro created the climate conducive (to the attack), he had a transmitting role in the hatred of Lula and the institutions”, notes Christophe Ventura, directly from research at Iris, interviewed by The Parisian.
“Throughout his tenure, Bolsonaro and his sons never stopped anticipating the challenge of defeat,” recalls Maud Chirio. For the researcher, the attack was not a coup but the accomplishment of a strategy of general disorder, while some supporters of Bolsonaro have demonstrated in front of military barracks since the defeat of the incumbent far-right president October 30.
In a series of tweets, and only six hours after the assaults, Bolsonaro paid lip service to condemning “the depredations and invasions of public buildings”, but denied any responsibility, “dismissing the accusations, without proof” of Lula according to whom he would have encouraged the violence of the “fascists”.
The ex-president did not attend the inauguration of his successor on January 1, and preferred to go to Florida for at least a month, on the land of Donald Trump, who called the Brazilian a “great guy” in September, calling for his re-election.
Like the American billionaire, he was elected on extreme ideas. Like Trump, the loss of the presidency has him fearing legal action. And like the American, he refused to condemn the storming of the Capitol. At the time, he pointed to the “lack of voter confidence”, which “led to what is happening”, as recalled The world. Almost two years to the day before the Brazilian chaos.