By Jacob Winter, BA Politics and International Relations
On 7th January, supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro attempted to overthrow the government of newly elected President Lula da Silva (commonly known as Lula) by storming Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court and Presidential Palace with suspected collaboration from police and military figures sympathetic to Bolsonaro, calling for a coup d’etat.
Supporters of Bolsonaro crossed police barricades with little resistance from police, although some attempted to pepper spray protestors. The BBC has verified a video showing protestors entering Congress with police officers standing by. One police officer waved at protestors and gave them a thumbs-up. These police officers were wearing the uniforms of the Policia Legislativa, the Federal Police that work inside the Congress building. Protestors destroyed property and assaulted icons of Brazilian democracy, such as paintings of former presidents.
It is not clear when the Governor of Brasilia asked the national government for help, but it took several hours for the protestors to be arrested and for the seized buildings to be cleared. When the army arrived, a widely circulated video on Twitter showed protestors cheering, believing the army was there to assist, only for the protestors to be arrested by the soldiers shortly afterwards.
“Lula blamed the attack on ‘vandals, neo-fascists and fanatics’, while also stating that ‘anyone involved will be punished”
Lula promised to purge the army and police command structures of Bolsonaro supporters, with the former security chief of Brasilia arrested, and Bolsonaro was also named in a police probe into the event. Lula blamed the attack on ‘vandals, neo-fascists and fanatics’, while also stating that ‘anyone involved will be punished.’ The minister for institutional relations, Alexandre Padilha, claimed that many of Brazil’s institutions, including the army and police, have been ‘contaminated by Bolsonarista hatred’. Due to Bolsonaro’s own lionising of the former military regime, the Brazilian left has accused him of organising the putsch in an attempt to return to Brazil and remove its democratic institutions.
Bolsonaro denied responsibility for the coup attempt, but stopped short of fully condemning it, claiming that ‘peaceful demonstrations, within the law, form part of democracy … invasions of public buildings like those that happened today, as well as those practised by the left in 2013 and 2017, are exceptions to that rule.’
Several figures, such as US Representative Ilhan Omar, drew comparisons to the January 6th storming of the Capitol in 2021 in the US, where supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Bolsonaro was a significant ally of Trump and made statements claiming that the election results were falsified.
Lula was elected by a slim majority of 50.90%, after previously holding the Presidency from 2003-2010. Lula has been a veteran of Brazil’s left wing since the military dictatorship of the 1980s, hosting major strikes and being jailed for his activities. Lula is a member of the Workers Party (PT), a centre-left party, which currently leads the Brazil of Hope coalition, which also includes the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) and the Green Party (PV).
During his first presidency, he funded social programs which led to Brazil being taken off the UN’s world hunger map and assisted in raising 20 million Brazilians out of poverty. However, Lula also drew criticism from the left in Brazil for compromising with the right and moving to a moderate position in politics. By the end of his presidency, his reputation had been tarnished due to several scandals, including accusations of buying votes in congress and influence-peddling. In 2017, he was convicted of money laundering and corruption but these charges were annulled in 2021 and he was allowed to return to politics.
Bolsonaro, in contrast, is a former army captain and strongly conservative, seen as a stalwart of Brazil’s far right. He advanced economically liberal policies, as well as a pro-US foreign policy during his presidency. In his election campaign, he promised to arrest or banish ‘reds’ and ‘petralhas’ (supporters of the PT). He has spent much of his political career attacking or provoking the left, even dedicating his impeachment vote against former president Dilma Rousseff to Colonel Brilhante Ustra, who tortured her when she was a guerilla fighter.
While he was president, Bolsonaro advocated for extensive rearmament of Brazil’s military and appointing military figures who were sympathetic to the former military dictatorship. He was widely criticised for his mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic and was accused of violating international law in the Hague for inciting genocide against indigenous peoples, with widespread accusations of corruption and intimidation.
The legal attacks on both Lula and other leftist presidents have been accused by leftist outlets such as OpenDemocracy of being an attempt by a right-wing Brazilian establishment and economic oligarchs to delegitimize and harm the left wing. The coup attempt likewise suggests that the far-right in Brazil may not be as populist as previously assumed, due to significant Bolsonarista infiltration into Brazil’s institutions and the expectation of the insurgents that the military would come to their aid.
This attack against Brazilian leftism comes at a time of a resurgent Latin American “pink tide”, with much of the continent currently having centre-left to far-left governments. This coup attempt currently coincides with the deposing of the left-wing President of Peru Pedro Castillo, with mass protests against the new interim government that has replaced him. In recent years, attempts to depose leftist governments in both Venezuela and Bolivia have also met failure, with the US’ reliance on its policy of supporting regime change against leftist governments, waning.
Photo Caption: Bolsonaro supporters attempted to overthrow the government of President Lula da Silva (pictured) on January 8 (Credit: Reuters).