condemns the protests but does not recognize the victory of Lula- Corriere.it

Almost 48 hours after the proclamation of Lula as president, Last night Bolsonaro finally broke the silence, reading a speech for a couple of minutes to reporters. The outgoing president did not sue Lula and did not admit defeat in Sunday’s elections
(lost from 49.1% to 50.9%). Rather, he justified the protests underway in the country, provoked, according to him, gives “a feeling of indignation and injustice for the electoral process”.
H.

but condemned the roadblocks that paralyzed Brazil, calling on his supporters to demonstrate peacefully: “I understand the protests, but our methods cannot be those of the left, which have always damaged the population, such as the invasion of property, the destruction of assets and the limitation of the right to move”, he said the leader of the right, thanking «the 52 million voters who voted for me». Almost to allay fears, he added: “As president and citizen, I will continue to fulfill all the commandments of the Constitution.” Soon after, his staff announced that he had authorized theinitiation of the transition of powers with Lula. Immediately afterwards he went to the headquarters of the Federal Supreme Court, which in a note “underlines the importance” that the president “in determining the beginning of the transition, recognized the final result of the elections”.

Throughout the day, Brazil was paralyzed by thousands of trucks which have blocked dozens of motorways, in particular the major arteries leading to airports and ports or that connect metropolises. Even the cars of the Ferrari team, which arrived in Sao Paulo for the Formula 1 Grand Prix, were trapped. Fault of the “Bolsonarists”, who were waiting for a signal from Captain Bolsonaro. But the former Navy captain remained barricaded in his two Palaces in Brasilia – the Alvorada where he lives and the Planalto where he has his offices – until, after a meeting with some ministers and generals, he summoned the press.

Once the risk of a coup has disappeared, the danger now, if anything, is that of a creeping civil war between the extreme fringes of a people split in two. On the one hand, the “Bolsonarists”, who spread fake news of electoral plots on social networks; on the other, the militants of Movement of homeless workerswho yesterday mobilized to remove the barricades of the “enemies”. Choice not shared by the historic Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (the Sem Terra) which urged its activists not to clash with the Bolsonarists.

Sara Gandolfi curates the Mondo Capovolto newsletter, dedicated to the Global South. It’s free by signing up at this link

Lula is silent, worried. General Secretary of the Workers’ Party, Paulo Teixeira, however, he accused Bolsonaro of keeping the country under blackmailadding that his behavior confirms the “lack of respect for democratic institutions”. Yesterday, in the absence of any government action, it was the Supreme Court’s turn to try to stop the protests. Judge Moraes has given notice to the chief of the traffic police – who had invited Bolsonaro to vote – to have the means cleared, otherwise he would have been fired. Many still fear that Bolsonaro wants to imitate the “bad teacher” Donald Trump who resisted for weeks before conceding victory to Biden, a few days after taking office. Analysts, however, exclude the possibility of a coup. «It does not have the support of the most important sectors of the political system and the media. And it does not seem to have the support of the military, ”says Claudio Coto, political scientist of the Getulio Vagas Foundation. “Bolsonaro is isolated, only truck drivers and some radical politicians would follow him.”