Brazil lives its particular assault on the Capitol after two months of Bolsonaro mobilizations

Radical protesters attack institutions to demand a coup against Lula da Silva, whose legitimacy Bolsonaro does not recognize

MADRID, 8 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Thousands of followers of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro have completed this Sunday the assault on the institutions that had been protesting in the streets for more than two months. The headquarters of the Congress, the Presidency and the Supreme Court have been assaulted by those who demand a military intervention and the deposition of a leader, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whose legitimacy they do not recognize.

The breeding ground for what has happened this Sunday derives from the past electoral process, when Bolsonaro and Lula faced two rounds for a Presidency that the first of them understood could only be his. Thus, he stirred up suspicions of electoral fraud without evidence and kept an unprecedented silence when the schools closed on October 30 and the polls did not agree with him.

There was less than two points of difference between the two candidates and the outgoing president obtained 58.2 million votes, more than four years earlier, which showed to what extent he continued to be a popular leader among a broad sector of voters; either out of conviction of his ultra-conservative dogmas or out of animosity towards Lula and everything that the Workers' Party (PT) represents.

Bolsonaro's silence after the closure of the polling stations gave rise to a wave of protests marked by the blockade of roads. Several days passed before the outgoing president promised to initiate the transition, although he did so with a small mouth and without openly acknowledging that he had been defeated -- he still does not to this day.

Lula promised that in the early stages of his term he would take action against those who continue to refuse to acknowledge his victory, at a time when groups of 'Bolsonaristas' continued to demand potential intervention by the Armed Forces in front of the barracks. Operations have also been carried out to dismantle alleged violent plans.

Bolsonaro himself left the country before the change of command on January 1, in a rudeness that local media outlets attributed to possible fear of a possible measure against him. He traveled surrounded by advisers to Florida, where he remains to this day, and has shown no sign of returning any time soon.

The choice of Florida as an occasional destination did not seem accidental, given that it is there where his friend and political ally Donald Trump has his mansion. Now, the similarities between the speeches of Bolsonaro and Trump rise to a new level, since it is followers of both leaders who have staged separate attacks on Congress two years apart.

If on January 6, 2021 hundreds of 'Trumpists' stormed the Capitol to question the electoral victory of Democrat Joe Biden, on January 8, 2023 it was the 'Bolsonaristas' who have tried to take political justice into their own hands, although in this case with coordinated attacks against other institutions in Brasilia.

As then, there has also been silence on the part of the main instigator of these mobilizations, either by action or by omission. Bolsonaro did try to distance himself from terrorist plots attributed to some radical sympathizers before leaving Brazil, but he also criticized the attempt to demonize his political base. They were his last statements, pronounced on December 30 and on the Internet.