Friday, March 29

Bolsonaro supporters lift roadblocks, but protests continue in large Brazilian cities


The “shock forces” of Bolsonarism, made up of truckers and allies, have abandoned the blockades, but the protests continue in the center of the big cities: Brasilia, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre. Thousands of protesters, draped in Brazilian flags, gathered outside army buildings to call for “federal intervention,” a covert way of demanding some military action. There was also a change of slogans and any specific mention of Jair Messias Bolsonaro disappeared from the posters to prevent the “leader” from being eventually involved in any legal process.

Bolsonaro says he will comply with the Constitution but justifies the protests of his followers after his defeat

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Instead of specific support for the Brazilian president, posters with the slogan “Lula in prison” were displayed. The change of orientation was an order from the Bolsonarista leaders that circulated through social networks. They are concerned about associating the head of state with “anti-democratic actions.”

Among opposition politicians, but also pro-government politicians, they wondered this Wednesday how long the street demonstrations could last, which question the legitimacy of Sunday’s electoral results. Some responses, such as those of the mayor of Rio de Janeiro Eduardo Paes, a politician who allied himself with Lula da Silva and who was already a federal deputy, give the demonstrations little time to live: “We are living the last breath of Bolsonarism, which neither closely has the majority of people who voted for Bolsonaro, “says Paes.

In his vision, the current president “is a man who shows, in his departure, that everything that was said about him is true: he fails to understand the game of democracy.” More categorical still is the opinion that he does not see the ruler “as a political leader of the opposition.” “I even doubt that he will remain for long in the party that hosted him as a presidential candidate, the PL,” he said in an interview with the local press.

Several open lawsuits

However, it is not possible to ignore his ability to play characters that bring him closer to the most popular sectors with some charisma. “He is mainly a speaker of frustrations on the part of society.” Of course, that ability cannot be underestimated. But the president will have to take care of his judicial situation as soon as he ends his mandate on December 31: together with his children, he is the target of several cases that are being processed in the Supreme Court. According to a magistrate quoted by the newspaper O Globe, “Bolsonaro needs to act on two fronts: first, to take personal care of himself and his children due to the judicial investigations; then, to preserve his political group, which, despite being defeated, managed to strengthen itself in these elections”.

On the other hand, the attitude assumed by several of his closest allies is key: Artur Lira, president of the Chamber of Deputies, who acted alongside the president, was quick on Sunday to acknowledge Lula’s victory. The elected governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas, who was a minister in the Bolsonaro government, did the same.

As an interpretation of what will happen in the coming months and the ability of the president-elect to “unify” his extremely polarized country, Paes from Rio said: “Lula has an exact dimension of what his victory means and of the opportunity that It opens in front.” His victory is “the result of a very broad front” of politicians who decided to support him convinced that the social dilemma was “democracy or barbarism.”

This explains and justifies the phrase that has become repetitive in Lulista’s speech: “My government will not be from the PT [Partido de los Trabajadores]”. In fact, Lula has shown almost immediately that he is willing to comply with that principle and has appointed his number two and former rival, Geraldo Alckmin, to coordinate the transition process between the current government and the future, as established by a 2002 law.

On the other hand, he has also indicated that the new government will not be without the PT and has appointed two of his closest people to accompany the vice in this task: former minister Aloysio Mercadante and the party president Gleisi Hoffmann. Another party figure will be in charge of negotiating with Congress some changes in the budget law.





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