Barring Bolsonaro does not make Brazil better than the USA, publishes NYT – 7/2/2023 – Nelson de Sá

American coverage suffers a new spasm of institutional envy, with the condemnation of Jair Bolsonaro and the contrast with Donald Trump. “Brazil gets the better of the US”, in the headline of the conservative but anti-Trumpist National Review.

Sunday’s New York Times addresses, in a neutral way, “Why Bolsonaro was barred in Brazil, but Trump can run in the US” (above). The print edition was also like this, “In the US, Trump is running. In Brazil, Bolsonaro was barred.”

In the text: “The system in the US left Trump’s fate in the hands of voters and the slow and methodical judicial process. In Brazil, the courts have been proactive, fast and aggressive”.

The newspaper hears from the American academic Omar Encarnación, who studies both systems, that it is possible to defend both. But he emphasizes the problems of the Brazilian, who “being so centralized is also more prone to abuse”.

One argument is that the same courts played, as the newspaper describes, “a central role in the so-called Lava Jato investigation that sent President Lula to prison.” For Encarnación, “the boldness with which they have acted, not only against Bolsonaro, but even against Lula, suggests that they are behaving in a reckless, even repressive way”.

GENOCIDE AND MARIELLE

Sister of the councilor Marielle Franco, murdered five years ago, the Minister of Racial Equality, Anielle Franco, was interviewed for about 20 minutes by the British BBC, broadcast in Brazil on Friday (30) and audio accessible via the internet. Among her responses:

“When I say genocide of black people in Brazil, I’m sure of what I’m talking about. Marielle was also a victim. I hope that the politicians who inspired people to think that it’s okay to kill a black woman or a black man never win an election in this country again.”

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