One request to create January 8 hearings sinks. Another is afloat

Photo: Joedson Alves/ABr

The Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva administration scored a minor win, as a request to open a Senate select committee on the January 8 Brasília riots appears to have run out of steam.

On the night of January 8, Senator Soraya Thronicke of Mato Grosso do Sul authored a request for a Senate select committee to investigate the “antidemocratic and terrorist acts” that had taken place hours earlier, after far-right protesters stormed and ransacked government buildings in the federal capital.

She quickly cleared the minimum requirement of 27 signatures (one-third of the upper house) to establish a hearings committee, with 44 senators supporting the request and many pro-government politicians backing it.

However, Ms. Thronicke’s push came at the closing moments of the 2019-2023 legislative term, which ended on January 31. Under congressional rules, all hearings committees are wrapped up once the legislature comes to an end. On that basis, Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco refused to set the committee in motion as the new term began, despite Ms. Thronicke taking the matter to the Supreme Court.

A new request, however, has so far only obtained 15 sponsors — with pro-government senators withdrawing their support for the panel. The Lula administration fears, with good reason, that the opposition would use the committee to muddy the waters of responsibility. The far-right wants to gear the investigation toward firehosing public discourse with falsehoods about the attack, seeking to convince supporters that the riots were sparked by leftist “agent provocateurs.”

There are still risks for the government. A request for a joint select committee — with members of both the House and Senate — has cleared the thresholds in each chamber. The government is trying to stifle such efforts, allegedly using pork barrel funds to sway lawmakers to withdraw their support for the committee’s creation.