[Bach]

Een week ver in het presidentschap van Lula dient de eerste crisis zich aan. Een crisis die men zou hebben kunnen voorspellen.

Attempted coup in Brazil: what is known so far (Excerpt)
Thousands of supporters of the extreme right-wing former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro stormed Congress, the presidential palace and the country's Supreme Court in the capital Bras?*lia on Sunday, calling for the overthrow of democratically elected president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Brazilian Workers' Party (PT). At least parts of the security forces in the capital stood by the coup plotters. That such a coordinated assault on the central symbols of the executive, legislative and judiciary could have been planned without the knowledge of the domestic intelligence services is considered impossible. By Florian Warweg.

According to current estimates, around 4,000 people took part in the attempted coup one week after Lula's inauguration on 1 January. They had coordinated via messenger services and had already travelled to the Brazilian capital the day before with almost 100 buses. During the storming of the presidential palace, Bolsonaro supporters are said to have captured firearms stored there, according to media reports. Videos from the building show empty weapons containers:

Was coup planning done in the US?

Bras?*lia's top security official and thus responsible for the protection of government buildings, Anderson Torres, had flown to Florida a few days earlier to meet with the president-elect, under whom he had been justice minister. Bolsonaro had left for the US on 30 December, not to attend the ceremony to hand over office to Lula, as was customary. Shortly before his departure, he had called on his supporters to resist the Lula government. Bolsonaro's meeting with Torres has given rise to as yet unconfirmed speculation in Brazil that the coordinated assault on all three centres of power (parliament, the presidential seat and the Supreme Court) was planned at this meeting on US soil.

To this day, Bolsonaro has not acknowledged his electoral defeat. On his Twitter profile, he still calls himself "President of the Federative Republic of Brazil".

Chief justice assumes direct involvement of intelligence services in coup attempt

Brazil's chief justice Alexandre de Moraes has ordered that the governor of Bras?*lia, Ibaneis Rocha, should be removed from office for 90 days because of Sunday's events, the news agency Reuters reports, citing a document also obtained by NachDenkSeiten. According to Moraes' assessment, "the attacks on the presidential palace, parliament and the Supreme Court could only have taken place (...) with the direct involvement of the public security and intelligence agencies".

In this context, the Office of the Attorney General stated that an arrest warrant had already been issued for the head of the Bras?*lia security authorities, Torres. However, this warrant could not be executed because he was still in the USA.

400 arrests so far

It was not until around 6.30 pm local time that the security forces managed to retake the three occupied buildings. Television images show dozens of rioters being led away in handcuffs. The governor of Bras?*lia, Ibaneis Rocha, who was still in office at the time, said that by 9 pm local time, 400 people had been arrested in connection with the coup attempt. They are working to "identify all the people involved in these terrorist attacks this afternoon in the Federal District".

Lula wants to bring "those behind the attacks" to justice

Leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, commonly known as Lula, was on an official trip to São Paulo state at the time of the storming. In response to the coup attempt, he ordered by decree that the federal government take responsibility for public security in the capital until 31 January. He also promised a complete investigation and announced that those behind the attacks would be brought to justice.

In a press conference, Lula pointed directly to Bolsonaro as the person responsible, saying that he had encouraged the coup attempt "from Miami". The Brazilian president also sharply criticised the security forces. He said that they had allowed "fascists" and "fanatics" to run riot unhindered. He further stated:

"These vandals, who we could call fanatical fascists, have done something that has never been done in the history of this country."

Bolsonaro later rejected Lula's accusations against him, ambiguously declaring that he had always adhered to law and order during his term in office (which is, after all, officially over):

US Congressmen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Joaquin Castro of the Democratic Party called for Bolsonaro's expulsion as a consequence of the incidents. "The US must stop giving Bolsonaro sanctuary in Florida," Ocasio-Cortez declared.

The violent excesses in Bras?*lia probably also increase the legal risks for Bolsonaro in case he returns to Brazil. The ex-president's stay in Florida is said to be a headache for US authorities, according to the Guardian, as the Biden administration is now forced to decide how to further deal with Bolsonaro's presence on US soil.

Numerous heads of state immediately declared solidarity with Lula da Silva's government and the Brazilian people. For example, Chilean President Gabriel Boric spoke of a "cowardly and despicable attack on democracy" and declared "full support" for the Lula government. According to media reports, he even immediately offered to send Chilean special forces.

Alberto Fernández, the president of Argentina, commented:

"I want to express my rejection of what is happening in Bras?*lia. I and the Argentine people support Lula in the face of this coup attempt."

French leader Emmanuel Macron also declared his "unconditional support" for Lula.

It was striking that this time even the German government, which had remained silent on the attempted coup in Venezuela, for example, and had even described the coup against Evo Morales in 2019 as an "important step", clearly condemned the incident:

Sunday's events once again highlight the degree of radicalisation in a section of Brazilian society. According to many observers, this trend will only intensify. The passivity of the security forces, from the police to the secret services, which was sometimes openly displayed in the face of the events, testifies to the fact that Lula cannot really rely on their loyalty even in his third term in office.

The wave of prosecutions that began after the attempted coup, which is fully justified by the rule of law, will also be grist to the Bolsonarists' propaganda mill. For in their eyes, this will confirm their claims that with Lula a "communist control state" would be established and "political persecution" would be the order of the day. Lula and his government face hard times as soon as they take office.

https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=92268

Tijdens de couppoging, als we het zo kunnen noemen, werden de wapens gestolen van de veiligheid uit het presidentieel paleis. Misschien een goed teken dat Lula best wat herschikking en doet.