Brazilian police reassess security for Lula inauguration after violent episodes

When Jair Bolsonaro took office four years ago, he did so under what was the most robust security system for a Brazilian inauguration to date. Less than four months prior, he had suffered an assassination attempt while on the campaign trail. 

Now, as Mr. Bolsonaro will leave power and make way for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who won the October election, the security scheme in Brasília will be even tougher. According to Flávio Dino, Brazil’s future justice minister, “all procedures will be reassessed and reinforced.”

He told reporters that the future government will ask the Supreme Court to restrict the right to bear arms until after the inauguration. A similar measure was carried out during the election.

Heightened measures are seen as necessary after the police arrested a man for setting up a bomb near the Brasília airport over the weekend. Another suspect is at large.

The explosive device was left in a tanker truck loaded with tons of kerosene. The device failed to detonate as planned. If it had, it could have caused an “unprecedented disaster,” according to security officials in the capital. 

As we reported this week, the plot was intended to “kickstart the chaos that would lead to a state of siege being decreed,” according to the man who admitted to setting up the bomb. Law enforcement also found a large stash of weapons, ammunition, and other explosive devices at the rented apartment of the perpetrator.

While grave, the incident was not an isolated event. 

In the wake of Lula’s certification as the 2022 election winner, supporters of President Jair Bolsonaro torched a bus in Brasília and tried to storm the Federal Police...