The later months of 2022 were difficult for former President Jair Bolsonaro. In October, he became the only president to run for a second term and not win, since re-election was introduced in Brazil in 1997.
Visibly disappointed, he secluded himself for days in the official presidential residence, Alvorada Palace. It took him days to speak after the election was called for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (and even when he spoke, he did not concede). During that period, Mr. Bolsonaro received few visitors. At least officially.
A document obtained by The Brazilian Report through Brazil’s public records law shows Mr. Bolsonaro received 70 visits that month.
The data, logged by the Institutional Security Office, shows that most of his visitors were members of his inner sanctum — including his running mate Walter Braga Netto, several cabinet members, the chair of his Liberal Party, Valdemar Costa Neto, and his four sons Flávio, Eduardo, Carlos, and Renan.
Inexplicably, the Alvorada Palace concierge failed to record meetings with people involved in putschist acts that followed the election — which he would later admit.
It is important to contextualize what was happening in the country at the time. The presidential election, which went Lula’s way, was the tightest in democratic times.
Mr. Bolsonaro ran an aggressive campaign during which he increased social benefit payments aimed at the poorest, reduced fuel taxes, and tried to create other feel-good factors around the economy. Still, Lula managed to snare 50.9 percent of the votes.
Outraged by the result, supporters of the former president started loudly demanding the intervention of the Armed Forces to prevent Lula from taking office. Little by little, they began setting up camp in front of Army garrisons across the country.
The demonstrators camp in Brasilia was so big that it functioned like a small town, with food, health, and even communication services.
Immediately after the election, pro-Bolsonaro protesters also tried to chokehold the economy by blocking federal roads essential to supply chains around the country. On December 24, the police discovered a homemade bomb near Brasilia International Airport. The device, which did not go off, was planted as part of a strategy to create conditions for Mr. Bolsonaro to declare a state of emergency and prevent a peaceful transition of power.
These acts — which many treated as cases of domestic terrorism — were fueled by the rhetoric of the former president. Mr. Bolsonaro constantly railed against the...
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