2024-01-09 01:29:20
The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said this Monday that “there is no forgiveness” for the perpetrators of the riot a year ago in Brasilia, for which he blames his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, investigated as a possible instigator. During a solemn event in Congress, invaded on January 8, 2023 by radicalized protesters, Lula maintained that “those who financed, planned and executed the coup attempt must be exemplarily punished.”
“Unbreakable democracy”
“There is no forgiveness for those who attack democracy, their own country and their own people,” said the Brazilian president in his speech delivered in the Black Room of Congress. In the event called “Unbreakable Democracy”, Lula greeted all the citizens who said “no to fascism” and highlighted the “courage” of the parliamentarians, governors, ministers, judges and soldiers who guaranteed that today “the victory of democracy over authoritarianism”.
There were relevant absences among the right, such as the governor of San Pablo, Tarcisio Freitas, Bolsonaro’s former minister, who claimed to be on vacation. The president of the Chamber of Deputies and former ally of Bolsonaro, Arthur Lira, was also not present.
The ceremony was loaded with symbolism, especially with the exhibition of works of art that belong to the seats of power and that were restored, such as a tapestry by the Brazilian artist and landscape painter Roberto Burle Marx, which had been torn from a wall of the Senate and vandalized during the riots.
Lula said that if the coup attempt had been successful, democracy would have been destroyed, since the sovereign will of the Brazilian people expressed at the polls would have been “stolen.” According to the president, this would have led to Brazil being plunged into “economic and social chaos”, the country would once again be isolated from the world and the Amazon would be “reduced to ashes” to make way for illegal mining.
According to the Brazilian president, although democracy was saved, “it is never ready” and he pointed out that it is necessary to take care of it and build it every day. “Democracy is imperfect, because we are human and, therefore, imperfect. But we all have the duty to join forces to improve it,” Lula warned, adding that “there will be no full democracy as long as inequalities persist, whether in terms of income , race, gender, sexual orientation, access to health, education and other public services”.
“A group of irresponsible people decided to attempt a coup d’état in this country. And January 8 means that from now on we will not allow society to forget it to guarantee democracy,” Lula had said earlier in a video he published on social networks. “May we shout loud and clear every day: ‘freedom, freedom, spread your wings’ and long live democracy,” added the progressive leader, quoting a passage from the anthem of the Proclamation of the Republic.
“Mob of criminals” against the popular will
Present in Congress, the president of the Brazilian Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, maintained that “the powers remain vigilant against traitors to the country and against the minority that wants to take power without respecting the Constitution.” Pacheco, who also serves as president of the bicameral Legislature, affirmed that the democratic forces of Brazil are always open to debate and pluralism but that they will never tolerate violence, coups and lack of respect for the will expressed by the Brazilian people in the elections. urns.
“Democracy only exists when the electoral right is respected. Disqualifying it offends not only the legislation and the Constitution but also the people. That mob of criminals that invaded these offices disrespected the popular will expressed by the vote. It is unacceptable “said the senator. “Accepting the victory of a candidate with whom we do not sympathize is a civic duty,” said Pacheco, referring to Bolsonaro, who throughout the 2022 electoral campaign questioned the reliability of the Brazilian electoral system and never acknowledged his defeat.
Earlier, the president of the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil, Luis Roberto Barroso, assured that the attacks of January 8, 2023 constituted a “scenario of barbarism” motivated by an “artificially cultivated animosity.” “In a kind of collective hallucination, thousands of people, apparently ordinary and ordinary, inflamed by falsehoods, conspiracy theories, anti-democratic feelings and resentments, were transformed into criminals, apprentices of terrorists,” said Barroso, who called them “false patriots.” “and of “false religious” to the executors of that attack on the institutions of the South American giant.
The judicial advance
The episode of January 8, 2023, was considered the “most brutal attack on democracy” in Brazil since the military coup of 1964 and charged two thousand people with these excesses, of whom thirty have already been sentenced to sentences of up to 17 years in prison.
The Brazilian Defense Minister, José Múcio Monteiro, said this Monday that the Armed Forces “did not want the coup” of January 8. Despite some “undisciplined” soldiers, the Army, Navy and Air Force did not want to join a coup movement, the minister told CNN Brazil. “At no time was the hypothesis mentioned. There was a great feeling of cohesion. All the commanders were there that night,” Múcio added.
On Friday, Lula reiterated in an interview that Bolsonaro is “directly responsible, that he planned all that and that, cowardly, he hid and left Brasilia before.” That is why he is being investigated by the justice system as a possible instigator and intellectual author of the attacks. The former president denies any personal responsibility or that of his supporters.
Unaware of the ceremonies, the Federal Police launched this Monday a new phase of the operation to identify the people who financed and promoted the coup attempt. The objective was to comply with 46 search and search warrants, and to freeze the assets of those investigated to respond for the damage, estimated at 8 million dollars.
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