Sebastian Fest Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Updated Sunday, February 25, 2024-20:57
Brazil When the Armed Forces become contaminated by coups: the intra-history of the attempt to overthrow Lula
This Sunday, Jair Bolsonaro made an important impact after experiencing what were some of the most complicated weeks of his public life: he called a crowd on Paulista Avenue, Brazil's economic nerve in the largest city in the West, to send from Sao Paulo
the message that it is not dead
yet in political terms.
"The Brazilian people do not deserve to be going through this moment, but no evil is eternal
," said the man who presided over Brazil between 2019 and 2023 at the beginning of his speech.
Throughout his speech, Bolsonaro has
avoided
accusing his problems of directly to
Justice
and the government of
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
, and has concentrated on detailing measures from his four years of government and highlighting his supposed superiority over the current one of the Workers' Party (PT).
"They accuse me of a coup, a coup appealing to the Constitution?" the 68-year-old former head of state, who was wearing a Brazilian soccer team shirt, asked rhetorically.
"I seek pacification to erase the past," he added after ensuring that he never plotted a coup d'état.
Tens of thousands of people - the authorities did not offer a specific estimate - began to spread out in the morning along the artery that runs through Sao Paulo, displaying Brazilian and Israeli flags.
The protesters complied with the slogan insistently sent by Bolsonaro
not to carry signs
that criticize or
attack people and institutions
, especially the members of the Supreme Federal Court (STF).
The evangelist pastor Silas Malafaia
, a powerful man who covered the expenses of the event , failed to comply with that slogan
: Malafaia has enraged the crowd by dedicating harsh words to the STF, the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE) and President Lula before to define Bolsonaro as
"victim of the greatest political persecution in the history of Brazil
. "
The event had been opened by
Michelle
, the charismatic
wife
of the ultra-conservative
Bolsonaro
.
The evangelical pastor also brought many of those present to tears on an afternoon in which many sang
"Impeachment a Lula!"
.
Bolsonaro supporters at the Sao Paulo march.Andre PennerAp
The former first lady said that evil has taken over the country and asked her followers not to give up.
"I know that our God in heaven will grant us help," she said.
"He has pleased the Lord to put us at the head of the nation. May God put us at the head of the Presidency of the Republic," she added to the euphoria of those present.
"The Lord loves the truth and hates iniquity," he stated while standing on the platform mounted on the roof of a bus, while referring to the "kingdom of Brazil."
"We love Israel, in the name of Jesus, amen," she said through tears.
"We bless ourselves, we bless Israel
," she concluded.
The deployment of the Bolsonaros is explained by the delicate judicial situation of the former president, who
is under investigation by the STF
: he is accused of having
plotted a coup d'état in 2022
to prevent Lula from assuming the presidency after winning the elections. for a small difference in the October 30 ballot.
At the beginning of the month, the STF withdrew the passport of the former president, who this week testified before Justice in Brasilia, although refusing to answer questions.
Bolsonaro's desire to show himself as the victim of a conspiracy has international reach.
Representative Eduardo Bolsonaro, the most politically visible of the former president's children, attended the ultra-conservative CPAC conference in Washington over the weekend.
There, after denouncing Lula's "police state", he managed to get those present to sign a statement in which they expressed their concern about these "police tactics" of the tenant of the Planalto Palace.
There, Bolsonaro received the support of former US President Donald Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei.
Jair Bolsonaro and his wife, Michelle.Andre PennerAP
Simultaneously, a Portuguese journalist who promotes the libertarian and ultra-conservative cause, Sergio Tavares, was detained for a few hours at the Guarulhos airport in São Paulo upon arriving in the country to cover the event.
"I am being questioned by the Federal Police about my statements about the polls, electoral fraud, the dictatorship of the judiciary and vaccines. On the advice of my defense lawyer, I remain silent," said Tavares, 25, to whom His passport was detained.
According to
Folha de São Paulo
, the Portuguese journalist had not applied for a work visa to cover the demonstration, something that very few journalists actually do.
The influential Brazilian newspaper noted that "this Sunday's event
aims to demonstrate Bolsonaro's political strength and put pressure on the STF
, which has authorized arrests and searches within the framework of the investigation into a coup plot."
Tarcisio de Freitas, Bolsonaro's former minister and governor of the powerful State of São Paulo, was present at the event on a hot and humid afternoon that meant political and personal relief for Bolsonaro, but that does not change his situation: the judicial process in His case, supported by 135 pages that summarize the STF investigation, advances slowly but surely, with the former president, four former ministers and several former senior officials of the Armed Forces as accused.