The Bolsonaro government colluded with far-right activists

When he was invited to join Jair Bolsonaro’s transition government at the end of 2018, Oswaldo Eustáquio was an unimpressive and largely unknown journalist from the southern Brazilian state Paraná. He was summoned by a member of his evangelical church, Damares Alves, who was drafted as Human Rights Minister. Since then, however, Mr. Eustáquio has become a notorious figure among political news junkies in Brazil. Not because of his professional exploits, but due to his role as the linchpin in a government-sponsored far-right network of online disinformation — for which Mr. Eustáquio has been arrested three times. 

Now, after his legal problems, the journalist says he does not feel abandoned by the government and continues to support President Bolsonaro. The reason behind his loyalty is the administration’s effort to change Brazil’s National Security Law and shield its most radical supporters from Supreme Court investigations.

Created during the military dictatorship, the law has been used by multiple institutions — such as the Supreme Court and the federal government itself — to tackle political speech, claiming that some actors might pose a risk to the democratic order.

As Mr. Eustáquio tells The Brazilian Report during an interview in his Brasília mansion, Mr. Bolsonaro’s move to change the National Security Law was an attempt to avoid lengthy truckers’ protests in September.

At that point, hundreds of thousands of pro-government protesters had traveled to the capital and São Paulo to boost the ranks of demonstrations against the Supreme Court and in favor of a self-coup by the president. While sizable, the protests weren’t large enough to embolden Mr. Bolsonaro to launch a power grab — which many political brokers believe he would have if given the right conditions. 

In a last show of force, pro-Bolsonaro truckers tried to grind the country to a halt by staging at least 50 blockades on federal highways, raising fears that the crisis could spill over into a nationwide strike. At that point, fearing the certain economic chaos of a mass stoppage, Mr. Bolsonaro used the National Security Law as an olive branch.

In a meeting with Mr. Eustáquio’s wife (he was in Mexico at the time) and other protest leaders, Mr. Bolsonaro urged them to clear blockades and...