Bolsonaro says he was an ‘unintentionally’ or ‘under medicine’ coup; see how the truth is another – 26/04/2023 – Politics

Former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) testified this Wednesday (26) to the Federal Police as part of the investigation into the January 8 coup attacks.

He was summoned to provide clarification for having shared on social networks, two days after the invasion of the Planalto Palace, a video of attacks on the security of electronic voting machines. The post was deleted shortly after it was made public.

According to his defense, the former representative told investigators that he mistakenly published a video passed on to him that questioned the fairness of the ballot boxes. The former president would still be under the effect of medication when he made the post, having been hospitalized.

It is not new, however, that the president flirts with the coup or makes statements contrary to democracy.

Nostalgia for the military dictatorship (1964-1985), Bolsonaro reiterated over the years his authoritarian tendency and his disapproval of the democratic regime. He has already denied the existence of a dictatorship in Brazil and has said he is in favor of “an exceptional regime”, stating that “by voting you will not change anything in this country”.

In an interview in 1999 when he was still a deputy, the politician expressly said that, if he were president, he would close Congress. “There is no doubt about it, it would carry out a coup on the same day! It doesn’t work! And I’m sure that at least 90% of the population would celebrate, would applaud, because it doesn’t work,” he said.

Already in the Presidency, in 2021, he hinted that he could not do everything he would like because of the democratic pillars: “If everything had to depend on me, this would not be the regime we would be living. democracy in Brazil”.

Before, throughout 2020, Bolsonaro participated in demonstrations that defended military intervention – the president is an enthusiast of the military dictatorship and its torturers.

On September 7, 2021, in speeches before thousands of supporters in Brasília and São Paulo, Bolsonaro made coup threats against the STF, urged disobedience to court decisions and said that he will only leave the Presidency of the Republic dead.

On September 7, 2022, in front of thousands of supporters at the Esplanada dos Ministérios, he spoke in a threatening tone against other Powers, with a critical citation of the STF (Federal Supreme Court) and praise for the First Lady, Michelle Bolsonaro.

In December 2022, just over three hours after the diplomacy of then-president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), Bolsonaro greeted demonstrators who shouted coup-like phrases, said a prayer and hugged children in front of the Alvorada Palace. A day after praying at Alvorada alongside Bolsonaro, Father Genésio Lamunier Ramos urged militancy to “stop Brazil”.

In government, Bolsonaro has shown that he disagrees with the Constitution, although he often uses the idea that he acts “within the four lines” of the text.

Whenever other Powers, especially the Judiciary, act to ensure respect for the Magna Carta and contradict the interests of the representative, the president claims that the institutions act outside the constitutional limits.

A series of measures taken throughout the mandate weakened Brazilian democracy, from the weakening of bodies for the participation of society in decisions about public policies to actions that distorted bodies from different areas, with budgetary suffocation and persecution of civil servants.

There was also a walling of the press, setbacks in transparency and the appointment of allies to head the Attorney General’s Office and the Federal Police.

Since the 2018 campaign, Bolsonaro has maintained a speech in which, without any proof, he raises doubts about the Brazilian electoral system. On several occasions he has hinted that he will accept no result other than his victory in October.