Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, may have scary plans ahead of next year’s presidential election in the country, according to several former world leaders. There are also fears that Tuesday’s Independence Day in Brazil could end in violent clashes.
–
In an open letter, they write that Bolsonaro and his allies are now possibly preparing to carry out a military coup in Brazil.
The letter is signed by several influential people, including former presidents, prime ministers and prominent left-wing public figures.
It writes British The Guardian the day before Brazil’s Independence Day, Tuesday 7 September. It is expected that millions will then take to the streets to show their support for the president.
In the letter, they claim that they massive demonstrations which has been warned across the country, and which Bolsonaro has encouraged, could pose a danger to democracy and could end in a revolt similar to the attack by Donald Trump’s supporters on Congress on January 6.
Demonstrations for the president in recent times have also been directed at the country’s Supreme Court and the Brazilian Congress.
The people behind the letter believe that the demonstrations – which have included racist groups claiming that the white race is superior, officials at all political levels and military police – “raise fears of a coup in the world’s third largest democracy”.
–Tried to change the election laws
They point out that on August 10, Bolsonaro “led an unparalleled military parade through the capital Brasilia, while his allies in Congress pushed for comprehensive reforms of the country’s electoral system, which he says are critical before next year’s presidential election.”
His critics believed that a hard-pressed president then tried to show muscle with the parade.
The change in the law would have changed the country’s electronic election system, which Bolsonaro undocumented claims is permeated by election fraud. The president’s proposal would change the electoral system until one voted with paper ballot papers and not electronically.
However, the proposal did not succeed in Congress. The amendment was voted down by a large margin by the congressional politicians.
The president himself said at the end of August that the demonstrations for him were preparations for a “necessary coup” against Congress and the Supreme Court.
He also claimed that Brazil’s “communist constitution” had deprived him of power, and he accused the “judiciary, the left, and a whole bunch of hidden interests” of conspiring against him.
–Excited before Independence Day on Tuesday
On Tuesday, Brazil celebrates the independence from Portugal that they won almost 200 years ago.
Ahead of the day, Bolsonaro has encouraged a large demonstration for him in the capital Brasilia, and many are afraid that the day could end up being Brazil’s January 6, the day Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the US Congress. Others fear that Bolsonaro is planning a so-called coup.
The US Embassy in Brazil has sent out one ahead of the day warning to US citizens in major cities in the country. Among other things, they ask them to avoid the areas around the demonstrations and to keep a low profile.
–– Deeply concerned about the threat to democracy
According to The Guardian, the letter further states:
– Members of the Congress of Brazil have warned that the September 7 mobilization is modeled after rebels at the US Congress on January 6, 2021, when then-President Donald Trump with false allegations of electoral fraud in the 2020 presidential election, urged his supporters to “stop the theft” .
Bolsonaro himself has stated that his supporters will not resort to violence during the demonstrations. According to Reuters, tensions in the country are now high, after being hit hard by the corona pandemic and several years of economic challenges.
The letter continues:
– We are deeply concerned about the imminent threat to Brazil’s democratic institutions – and we are ready to defend them ahead of 7 September and beyond. The people of Brazil have struggled for decades to secure democracy from military rule. Bolsonaro must not be allowed to rob them of it now.
–Former Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis in Greece, former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn, former President Caroline Lucas in PAraguay and Argentine human rights activist and Nobel Prize winner Adolof Pérez Esquivel are all among those who have signed the letter.
Senior researcher Cristiana Maglia works at the Norwegian Institute of Foreign Policy (Nupi). She works mainly with ecosystem politics, but during her doctorate she specialized in Brazilian politics. She thinks the letter writers have a point.
– It is no exaggeration to say that Bolsonaro threatens some institutions in Brazil. The fact that coups are mentioned at all in 2021 is a major setback for democracy.
– They have reason to use such words for Bolsonaro’s rhetoric is anti-democratic.
–
