Happy Monday! Today, the president and Supreme Court are openly exchanging blows ahead of September 7 demonstrations. Brazil’s new favorite instant payment system marred by crime spurt.
Supreme Court threatens Bolsonaro and his generals
Brazil’s institutional crisis has given no sign of respite, reaching a point in which the branches of government are openly trading threats.
- On Saturday, President Jair Bolsonaro told supporters he is not planning a democratic rupture, “but there is a limit for everything in life,” in reference to the behavior of the Supreme Court, which has launched investigations against the president and his allies. He said there are only three options for his future: to go to prison, be killed, or “obtain victory.”
- One day later, Justice Ricardo Lewandowski published an op-ed in Brazil’s largest newspaper warning that “the price for crossing the Rubicon can be high,” even for those only following orders — a reference to the Armed Forces, which have indulged Mr. Bolsonaro’s anti-democratic behavior under the excuse that he is their commander-in-chief.
Why it matters. The Supreme Court is trying to show that it will not be a bystander if President Bolsonaro tries to use his supporters and the Armed Forces for his