Since his “retirement” in Florida, the former president takes hours to refer to the Brasilia riots, avoiding explicit condemnation and encouraging “peaceful demonstrations” as “part of democracy”.
“Peaceful demonstrations, within the law, are part of democracy. However, vandalism and raids on public buildings, such as those that have taken place today, as well as those from the left in 2013 and 2017, are out of the question. With these words, former President Jair Bolsonaro summed up this morning his position on the violent takeover of Brazilian institutions by thousands of his most extremist followers. He did it without any rush, hours after the incidents started. Bolsonaro’s lukewarm response, broadcast on his social networks from Florida, where he has been since December 30, contrasts with the harsh response from the governments of Latin America and other countries, such as the United States, whose president, Joe Biden, the riots as “outrageous” and condemned the “assault on democracy in Brazil.”
When the whole world turned to the far-right ex-president for his response to the dire episode his country’s powers were experiencing, he did not disappoint. At least, for its traditional supporters. Bolsonaro has confined himself to condemning the “looting and invasion of public buildings”, but not the root of this outrageous episode of violence that most of the political and social arc describes as an attempted coup. In this first post, his main criticism is directed at his electoral rival and current head of government, Luiz Inácio da Silva, who has accused his predecessor of “stimulating” acts such as those suffered by Congress, the Presidential Palace and the Supreme Court have had. in Brazil. Bolsonaro confirms that these allegations are “baseless” and recalls that during his tenure “I was always within the four lines of the constitution, defending the laws, democracy, transparency and our sacred freedom.”
The man who exclaimed in September 2021 that “only God will remove me from power” continues to reject defeat at the polls two months after losing the October 30 presidential election. As with his last message, lukewarmness has been a constant in his few statements during these two months of political transition. For example, he pushed for the roadblocks organized by his supporters to be lifted immediately after his defeat (they have since demanded military intervention against Lula da Silva’s fledgling left-wing executive), but encouraged them to take their protests elsewhere under the belief that “demonstrations are welcome” and “part of the democratic game”. Like you did today.
The international media, and especially the American, on Monday pointed to the similarities between the behavior of Jair Bolsonaro and former US President Donald Trump. The two were obsessed with denying their loss in the election. The two determined that they had been removed from power through fraud. The two take hours to ask their followers to end the violence and riots. Because it also underlines the similarity between the serious riots in Brasilia and the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 to thwart Joe Biden’s presidential nomination. Perhaps most paradoxical of all, the two ex-presidents representing the most radical right-wingers were also in Florida today. The former Brazilian army captain traveled there on Dec. 30 to avoid, as his admired Trump had already done, retreating to his Mar-a-Lago mansion, protocol that forced him to attend the inauguration by Lula da Silva.
Apparently, Bolsonaro is staying at the house of a well-known former mixed martial arts fighter, José Aldo da Silva, who recently retired from the professional MMA circuit. He is one of many experts in this discipline who have expressed their support for the far-right leader during his last term. Some information assures that former Justice Minister Anderson Torres is also in Florida, who has had an arrest warrant issued since last night by Brazil’s Attorney General’s Office for his alleged responsibility in organizing the attack on the institutional headquarters . Torres was Minister of Security in the Federal District of Brasilia.
All of these coincidences have fueled rumors of the possibility that Bolsonaro traveled to Florida on a Brazilian Air Force jet, intending not only to avoid the imposition of the presidential sash on Lula da Silva, but also to avoid legal action. . could run against him once he was deprived of immunity as head of the nation. A hypothesis that has become very real in the case of its referent, Donald Trump, subject to various judicial investigations and by the US Congress itself. With regard to the pandemic alone (coronavirus has killed nearly 700,000 people in Brazil), a Senate committee believes that Bolsonaro and 65 other senior officials, including four ministers, could be charged with “crimes against humanity”, “violations of sanitary measures”. and seven other crimes for his denial and management of the epidemic. The former president has also been linked to a corruption investigation.
The last time he visited Florida was in 2020 when he stayed at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club. This time, he has not made any statements or revealed his activities beyond what he or some of the witnesses have posted on social networks. He has been seen in the company of his followers in Orlando. Also shopping in a supermarket, eating fried chicken in a fast food restaurant and taking selfies with the people who stopped him on the street. He is joined on this journey by his wife, Michelle, and their two children are expected to join them, if they have not already landed in Florida. At the moment, Bolsonaro has not said when he will return to Brazil or if he intends to do so one day. Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in Washington last night: “The United States must stop providing refuge to Bolsonaro in Florida. In reality, Bolsonaro has no refugee status in the United States. For this reason, the words uttered by the former Brazilian president when he said that only the Most High will remove him from power seem to resonate more prophetically than ever. “There are three options for me: prison, death or victory.”
Source: La Verdad
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