After a mob of Bolsonaristas assaulted this Sunday the three seats of power in Brazil (Executive, Legislative and Judicial), The South American giant is facing its biggest democratic challenge since the end of the military dictatorship in 1985.
(Read here: Brazil: Government monitors conditions of 1,500 detainees for coup acts)
This episode is the culmination of a crisis that has dragged the country since the second presidential round, where Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won the vote against Jair Bolsonaro, who during the electoral campaign agitated his supporters to ignore the results.
(See also: Similarities and differences between what happened in Brasilia and the assault on the Capitol)
Lula took office just this January 1st. From now on, avoiding the polarization in which the citizenry is plunged opens up as a major challenge for his third term.
Below, we explain five keys to understanding what is happening in Brazil and how it got to this point.
Background: how did Brazil get into this crisis?
Brazil elected a new president last October. After a first round at the beginning of that month, the second round took place on the 30th. Lula and Bolsonaro waged a hectic campaign stained by polarization.
Finally, the vote was decided by a difference of just 1.8%, favoring Lula. The narrow margin showed a country divided almost evenly between both candidates.
Bolsonaro, even before the electoral season, harshly criticized, but without evidence, the voting system in his country. The outgoing president attacks the electronic ballot boxes that Brazil has been using since the mid-1990s and whose results have always been respected and reliable.
After he lost the election, Bolsonaro, a former army captain, remained silent for several days without acknowledging his defeat. Added to this attitude, his supporters began to camp on October 30 outside the Army Headquarters (in Brasilia) to ask the military to intervene and prevent Lula from assuming command of the country.
The assault: what happened?
Two months after the start of these camps, thousands of protesters called for a mobilization for this Sunday, January 8, that would travel 9 kilometers from the General Headquarters to the Plaza de los Tres Poderes, an area that houses the headquarters of Congress, the Presidential Palace and the Supreme Court of Justice.
Escorted by the military police of Brasilia, thousands of protesters broke into, first, the Congress, and then the headquarters of the Executive and the Court. The marches called for military intervention and the end of Lula’s rule.
What comes next: what measures did they take?
before the chaos, Lula ordered that control of the security of Brasilia would fall into the hands of the Executive.
The demonstrators spent almost four hours in the three seats of power. Then, the authorities began to control the protests and detained about 300 people in that place.
This Monday, the authorities continued their operations and began to evacuate the camps posted in front of the General Headquarters. There, some 1,200 people were detained, bringing the total number to 1,500.
Investigations were also announced to determine how the assault took place and if there is anyone responsible for the event. The Governor in charge of the security of Brasilia was even ordered removed from office due to suspicions after not having ordered the police to stop the marches.
Bolsonaro’s position: what does the former president say?
The ex-president, who left Brazil two days earlier for Florida to avoid attending Lula’s inauguration, mildly rejected the facts.
“Peaceful demonstrations, within the law, are part of democracy. However, vandalism and invasions of public buildings such as those that occurred today, as well as those practiced by the left in 2013 and 2017, escape the rule,” the ex-president stated on his social networks.
Now, Bolsonaro has been hospitalized since Monday due to abdominal pain that afflicts him.
Support for Lula: a rejection of the jump from Brazil and the world
After the events, Lula met with the president of Congress (from Bolsonaro’s party) and the head of the Supreme Court. Both openly supported the president and categorically rejected the assault.
In turn, the United States, the main governments of Latin America and the European Union condemned the events and showed their full support for Lula. The OAS, for its part, called an extraordinary meeting for this Wednesday to discuss the situation.
CARLOS JOSE REYES GARCIA
INTERNATIONAL SUB-EDITOR
TIME
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