Bolsonaro distances himself from Brasília riots

After remaining silent for hours while his supporters stormed the headquarters of all branches of government in Brasília, far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro finally posted on social media. 

From Orlando, where he has been based since leaving Brazil on December 30, he tweeted: “Peaceful, law-abiding demonstrations are part of democracy. However, depredation and the storming of public buildings, as occurred today, as well as those practiced by the left in 2013 and 2017, break the rule.”

https://twitter.com/jairbolsonaro/status/1612242019564548097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Mr. Bolsonaro referred to violent protests staged in 2013 by multiple political factions throughout the country. In June of that year, some 5,000 youths occupied the lobby of the Congress building, while hundreds of others climbed onto its roof. Four years later, left-wing protesters staged protests in Brasília which ended with confrontations with the police, leaving 49 people injured and leading to eight arrests and the deployment of Army troops on the streets.

Earlier, Mr. Bolsonaro had made three posts on his official Telegram channel.

Two of them talked about how his administration invested over BRL 21 million (USD 4 million) into public policies targeting poor families, highlighting the cash transfers he enacted since the start of the Covid pandemic. The third gloats about the Brazilian Real “having been 2022’s best-performing currency” among 33 around the world.

Mr. Bolsonaro plans to stay in Florida for at least a month. In the waning moments of his administration, the federal government authorized a security detail to follow him to the U.S. until January 30. It remains unclear when or whether the former president intends to return to Brazil.

Before leaving the presidency — and the country — Mr. Bolsonaro spent years sowing distrust in Brazil’s electoral system. He said time and again that the electronic voting machines used in the country can be rigged, despite offering no evidence to substantiate his claims. Earlier this year, the former president even urged foreign governments not to immediately recognize Brazil’s electoral results.

Since the October 30 runoff, Bolsonaro supporters have been behind a crescendoing movement to destabilize the country by way of acts of violence — never directly condemned by the far-right former president. Before leaving the country, he issued a farewell address to supporters, when he said that he “did all he could” to revert the electoral results “within the four lines of the Constitution,” and dodged any responsibility for acts of violence carried out by his most radical supporters.

“Nothing justifies” terrorist acts, he said during the nearly one-hour broadcast from the official presidential residence. “Every time someone does something wrong, they say it’s a Bolsonarista,” he complained. 

Prior to Mr. Bolsonaro’s tweet, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva placed the capital’s security apparatus under federal intervention — and blamed his predecessor.

“Everyone knows that there are several speeches by the former president encouraging this. He [had previously] spurred on the storming of the Supreme Court,” Lula said. “This is also his responsibility. It is the responsibility of the parties that support him and all of this will be investigated strongly and quickly,” he declared.

---

Disclaimer: A previous version of this post has been updated.

• #government
• #jairBolsonaro
• #violence