In May 1999, a mostly unknown Brazilian politician and military politician is invited to the Câmer Abert program, aired by Bandeirantes tv station. At 1 point, he looks right into the camera and turns to the audience, saying: “Democratic elections in our country will not change anything. The best solution to all social problems is civilian war and the introduction of a hard hand regulation that could yet complete the works of dictatorship: they would have killed 30,000 people, headed by Fernand Henrique Cardoso [the then president, co-founder of the Brazilian Social Democratic organization – M.B.]. By the way, any innocent people will die, but that is the price of change.”
He adds: “If I became the head of the state, I would immediately close the National Congress. It's useless these days. And on the same day, I would have ordered: I would have carried out a coup.”
This guy at Câmer Abert's studio is Jair Bolsonaro. erstwhile he says those words, he belongs to the Brazilian chades. He has been in legislature for almost a decade, spending a full of six terms. He's 44 years old and very political ambition. The imagination of the end will never cease to be 1 of them.
History Transcription
Jair Bolsonaro long remained on the margins of the political scene. He had an outsider position that – until then – no 1 among the Brazilian elite took seriously. Popularity was built on tv shows and social media, being known not for its real achievements, but, above all, for controversial statements, including the Brazilian past.
He repeatedly praised the dictatorship here, and 1 of the colonels liable for torture and kidnapping, erstwhile DOI-CODI chief of secret services Carlos Brilhante Ustra, called the national hero. During the 2018 presidential campaign, he stated that "the only military mistake was that they did not kill more people and stopped at torture". A fewer months later, after being sworn in as president, he set the anniversary of the coup as a celebration commemorating the "democratic revolution", which "save the country from the communists" in 1964.
Such attempts to rewrite past were performed by Bolsonaro many. They entered into his anti-systemism and criticism of left-wing governments and hit the fertile ground in a country that did not account for the past. The collapse of the dictatorship in 1985 did not bring historical settlements, and the Amnesty Act passed in 1979 blocked the actions of the judiciary. Many criminals remained unpunished, and it was not until 2012, during the reign of Dilma Rousseff, that the National fact Commission was established – the first mechanics for settling crimes of the regime. Since then, however, fewer sentences have appeared, and the first 1 was issued only a fewer years ago, in 2021.
The increasing environment of the far right of Bolsonaro at the beginning has undermined the committee's actions and the legitimacy of its existence. Historical negationism and the praising of authoritarianism became a showcase of the erstwhile military, who was inactive a hardened opponent of the country's democratisation at the end of the dictatorship, and could not accept this fact after the collapse of the regime. Similarly, he could not accept the failure of power erstwhile he failed to win re-election in October 2022 and lost the presidential election to Luiz Inácie Lula da Silva. It was hard adequate for him to accept the results of the election, that he decided to do something he told in an interview before the 4th of a century ago: to take power by force.
The Way to the Forest
The attack on the Brazilian National Congress, which took place on January 8, 2023, is frequently compared to Trumpists' trespasses on the Capitol. The mechanics was the same: the attempted coup was preceded by respective months of demonstrations of supporters of the lost president, blocking roads, arson of cars and mass disinformation in social media.
On the day of the attack, powerful mobs of Bolsonarians protesting against the alleged "election forgery" broke through police cordons and then invaded government buildings. They began to destruct the interiors of the presidential palace, legislature and the ultimate Court. They broke windows, destroyed and stole works of art, demolished gathering rooms. More than 5,000 people participated in the riots. They were not only bringing Bolsonaro supporters from all over the country, but besides members of his youth and politicians from his group – the ultra-right-wing Partido Social Liberal.
Although mostly anonymous protesters were punished for their engagement in the assault, the national police shortly began taking evidence of who was behind the inspiration for this attack. Jair Bolsonaro was accused of political work for January events, incitement to hatred and incitement of the crowd to destruct public property. He was besides accused of carrying out an attack on public institutions and co-organizing a coup plot.
The authoritative indictment was issued last November after many months of investigation. The police final study was forwarded to the ultimate Court, which declassified its contents. A more than 880 pages of evidence clearly indicated that the losing president intended to halt Lula da Silva from taking power and proceed to stay head of state, organizing the coup. The police study shows that Bolsonaro was full active in actions to organize a coup, the aim of which was to destruct the regained democratic strategy in the 1980s and to introduce authoritarian governments.
The paper describes in detail, among others, the gathering of the leader of the far right with the commanders of the armed forces, to whom he presented plans for the assassination, asking them for help.
The first meetings were to take place in early December 2022, 1 period after the election result was announced. According to the study and subsequent indictment, Air Force Commander, Brigadier Carlos de Almeida Baptista Júnior, and Land Forces, General Marco Antonio Freire Gomes, rejected the proposal to participate in the coup. He was the only 1 willing to support the plan by erstwhile naval commander Almir Garnier Santos – although he later powerfully denied it.
The White home reacts
Members of the government of Jair Bolsonaro were besides included among the publicists: Walter Braga Netto and Paulo Sérgio Nogueira from the Ministry of National Defense, erstwhile Justice Minister Anderson Torres, ex-minister from the National safety Office Augusto Helio, erstwhile manager of the intelligence agency (Agencia Brasileira de Intelignia) Alexandre Ramagem and Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, who was the President's adjutant.
All of them, along with the erstwhile head of state, stood on the bench of the defendants in a trial concluded on September 12. From the beginning, he was outraged by many representatives of the right side of the political scene. Bolsonaro has grown up in fresh months to be “a martyr of freedom” (“mártir da liberdade) and the "sacrifice of the system" and "unwarned political vendetta". erstwhile President's defender became, among others, a popular politician of the far right, the 50-year-old Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas. State politician São Paulo and 1 of Bolsonaro's erstwhile ministers considered the trial to be "honorable" and demanded for amnesty policy.
The outrage over the trial besides flowed from the White House, and 1 of the loudest opponents of the Brazilian justice strategy became Donald Trump. The American administration has included financial sanctions (meaning the freezing of assets) and visa restrictions for Alexander de Moraes, the chief justice of the ultimate Court, for years known for his unconcerned attitude towards Bolsonarians. In Washington, he was accused, among others, of "repressive campaigning" towards the erstwhile president, "politicising judicial proceedings", and even "infringement of human rights".
The United States has besides imposed fresh sanctions on the Brazilian economy: an additional work of 40% has been imposed on any Brazilian products since 1 August, resulting in an increase of up to 50%.
However, Brazilian justice did not give in to the force of the right. The verdict of the ultimate Court with the voice of 4 judges (in 1 objection) confirmed the charges against the defendants by condemning the erstwhile president to 27 years and 3 months in prison. 70-year-old politicians were besides banned from re-applying from the public post until 2060 – for 8 years after the judgement passed. Co-organizers of the planned coup, referred to as “criminal group members”, and heard sentences ranging from 2 to 26 years imprisonment. The highest punishment was given to the closest associate of the erstwhile president, Walter Brad Netto, the lowest Mauro Cid, who inactive agreed to cooperate with the prosecution during the investigation.
Breakthrough process
Defenders and advisers of Jair Bolsonaro called the judgement “absurdly excessive” and announced that they would shortly make “appropriate appeals”. In Brasília, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, mass protests of his faithful supporters broke out, accusing the judges of bias. The U.S. authorities reacted rapidly to the verdict, comparing the actions of the judges to “hunting witches”. It is besides possible that the conviction and further run in defence of the convicted will bring the energy of the far right – both in the individual of Bolsonary Tarcísia Gomes de Freitas, and the young face of ultra-right movements, which is 38-year-old Pablo Marçal, a businessman and leader of the Brazilian labour Renewal organization (PRTB).
However accidents may occur, the trial itself and the subsequent judgement are called “historic” and “breakthrough”. This is what César Muñoz, manager of the Brazilian Human Rights Watch (HRW), states. He emphasized, among others, that this is the first time in past Brazil, erstwhile a coup meets legal responsibility. The verdict itself is simply a "clear signal that plotting against a democratic state must have its consequences".
Many of the Brazilians, who, as a consequence of the judgment, went out to celebrate on the streets, were relieved. The Bolsonaro trial was much more than an effort at justice. He was a motion of opposition to political violence, symbolic of the dam's right-wing extremism. He became a name for a thing – contrary to misinformation and besides negationists. At the same time, it is an act of historical justice in exceptional circumstances: moments after the 40th anniversary of democracy's return in the country, where so many victims of dictatorship are inactive waiting for redress. And where so many torturers have never been brought to justice.
