The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, during his speech this Tuesday at the Alvorada Palace. /
After two days of silence, the outgoing president condemns the blockades, although he refers to the “feeling of injustice” due to the electoral process
Jair Bolsonaro broke his silence in the middle of the afternoon yesterday in Brazil to thank the 58 million Brazilians who voted for him in the elections last Sunday. With glassy eyes and trembling voice, escorted by a large retinue of allies, the outgoing president condemned roadblocks and the protests that were taking place in twenty states, but justified them as the result “of indignation and a feeling of injustice” for what happened during the elections.
Bolsonaro’s silence for almost two days has fueled the chaos caused by the truckers who had blocked main roads and even the border with Paraguay. Interviewed by various media, some spoke of the “robbery” that the still president of Brazil had suffered at the polls, and were in favor of challenging the result. Even in many of these demonstrations, the Army was required to intervene against Lula da Silva’s victory.
Bolsonaro, in the two minutes that his speech lasted, after almost two days of remaining silent, avoided clearly recognizing Lula da Silva’s victory. Of course, he made it clear that he will respect the Constitution: «I have never censored the media or social networks as President of the Republic. I will continue to comply with all the commandments of our Constitution.”
The far-right president said he felt stronger and concluded: “It is an honor to be the leader of millions of Brazilians who, like me, defend economic, religious freedom, freedom of opinion, honesty and the green, blue and yellow colors of our flag” .
Immediately afterwards, the Minister of the Presidency, Ciro Nogueira, who is the government official in the process of transferring powers, did refer to Lula as “elected president.” “Based on the law, we will start the transition process,” he settled to clear up any doubts.
In this climate, it was to be expected that riots would develop in the face of criticism that Bolsonaro had planted on the electoral system. And much more because of the narrow victory of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who prevailed with 50.9% of the votes (60.3 million voters), and who at 77 years of age became the first Brazilian president to win three elections since the disappearance of the dictatorship.
The truckers’ blockade of major public thoroughfares was being seen as totally undemocratic and scared many Brazilians of the risk of escalating tension and chaos elsewhere. Bolsonaro’s silence has not helped either. Nor was it normal that so many hours after the election results were announced, the Liberal Party candidate had not made a statement accepting defeat, congratulating his rival and thanking the more than 58 million Brazilians who voted for him (49 ,1%).
Fortunately, judicial authorities, ministers of the outgoing government and presidents of political parties pressured the president to speak and contain the blockades. Some sources indicated that Bolsonaro had previously requested a meeting with magistrates of the Federal Supreme Court, a meeting to which members of this institution indicated that they would only attend after the far-right leader accepted his defeat.
The appointment finally took place last night. At its conclusion, the Supreme Court highlighted in a statement “the importance of the pronouncement of the President of the Republic to guarantee the right to come and go in the face of blockades and, when determining the beginning of the transition, recognize the final result of the elections.” . In the first round of the elections, at the beginning of October, Bolsonaro obtained the most conservative and hard majority in Congress and the Senate, which will make Lula’s legislative action very difficult.
Police investigation
Prior to the outgoing president’s speech, the Police began to evict the truck drivers from the hundreds of occupied roads. At the same time, Alexandre de Moraes, the highest authority of the Supreme Court, launched an order to fine 100,000 reais (about 19,000 euros) to any vehicle that was blocking the roads, and there was even the threat of going to prison. During the night of Monday, 300 blockades were recorded at the entrances of 25 states, which mainly affected supermarkets and the meat and milk sector.
Doubts about Bolsonaro’s decision to abide by the results of the polls began to dissipate a few hours before his speech. Lula da Silva appointed his elected vice president and former governor of Sao Paulo, Geraldo Alckmin, to coordinate the transition of her government. As revealed by the Workers’ Party, members of the teams of both leaders met on Monday night to initiate contacts in order to guarantee an orderly transfer of power. The meeting between the two delegations was described as “cordial”. It is expected that from tomorrow the names of the possible ministers will be known. Lula will not take office until January 1.
The man who has regained power in Brazil received multiple international congratulations, some of which he posted on his social networks. «Yesterday I spoke with dozens of heads of state. They all want to expand alliances and joint work with Brazil on trade, climate and global issues. We are returning to the world,” Lula said.
He noted that he had spoken on the phone with the president of the United States, Joe Biden, about strengthening democracy in Brazil and preserving the environment. Alberto Fernández, president of Argentina, and Pedro Sánchez also expressed their desire to cooperate more in the fight against hunger, poverty and climate change.