How Bolsonaro’s rhetoric fuels domestic terrorism in Brazil

George Washington Sousa, a 54-year-old man arrested on Christmas Eve for setting up a bomb found in a fuel truck close to the Brasília international airport, told police of his intent to sow “chaos” and create the conditions for Brazil to be placed under a state of siege — a situation in which constitutional guarantees are suspended, and the president is granted emergency powers.

According to the police report, Mr. Sousa said that an unidentified woman at the pro-Bolsonaro putschist camp in the capital suggested demonstrators blow up a power station “in order to kickstart the chaos that would lead to the state of siege being decreed.” 

Since Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeated the outgoing president in the October 30 runoff election, his supporters have set up such camps nationwide, many of which are close to Army garrisons. They challenge the legitimacy of the election and urge the Armed Forces to prevent the peaceful transition of power.

Mr. Sousa admitted to the police that he set up a bomb with one stick of dynamite, but said that another man, whom he identified as “Alan,” placed the bomb nearby the airport, an idea with which he allegedly did not agree. 

A resident of the northern Pará state, Mr. Sousa was arrested on Saturday night in a rented apartment over 10 kilometers from Brasília airport. The bomb had been found and defused by the police several hours earlier. In the house he was renting, the police found multiple rifles and rounds of ammunition.

The state of siege mentioned by Brazil’s newest domestic terrorist is a longtime talking point of President Jair Bolsonaro and his close allies. They evoke the idea as a means to seize unchecked power — a falsehood believed by the president’s hardcore supporters.

In September, Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, the president’s third-eldest son, made a literal call to arms. “Have you bought a legal gun? Do you have a shooting range or practice at one? Then you’ve...