In 7 points, see Bolsonaro’s clear coup advance – 02/25/2024 – Power

Former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) is one of the targets of an ongoing investigation by the Federal Police into a coup plot launched in 2022 to prevent Lula (PT) from taking office as President.

This investigation has as one of its bases messages and denunciations from Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, Bolsonaro’s former aide-de-camp in the Presidency of the Republic.

Other elements still in the investigation phase are the coup-based meeting in which, in July 2022, the then president suggested ways to attack the electoral system and, already after the election, his role in drafting a supposed draft decree in the which the coup d’état would be based on.

Apart from these points that came to light in a recent PF operation, Bolsonaro collects a series of previous evidence of a coup-like tone. This Sunday (25), the former president will participate in an event on Avenida Paulista called by him to, as he has repeated, defend himself in the face of recent investigations.

The former president has already been convicted by the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) for attacks and lies about the electoral system, for example, and is the target of different other investigations at the STF (Supreme Federal Court). Right now, he is ineligible until at least 2030.

If he is prosecuted and convicted of the crimes of attempted coup d’état, attempted abolition of the democratic rule of law and criminal association, the former president could be sentenced to up to 23 years in prison and be ineligible for more than 30 years.

In the decision authorizing the arrests of the former president’s allies at the beginning of the month, minister Alexandre de Moraes stated that the practice of crimes against democracy and criminal association has already been proven.

See, in 7 points, Bolsonaro’s clear coup advance.

1) ATTACKS ON THE BALLOON AND THE TSE TO DISLEGITIMATE THE SYSTEM

Throughout his term, the president’s main confrontational strategy was to question the security of electronic voting machines, a system used since 1996 and considered efficient and reliable by authorities and experts in the country.

He never presented evidence or evidence to question the polls, but repeated the coup speech, seen as an attempt to hide the government’s problems, the high disapproval and the polls that placed him behind today’s president Lula.

2) THREAT THAT THERE WOULD NOT HAVE AN ELECTION WITHOUT A PRINTED VOTE

During his term, Bolsonaro maintained a speech in which, without any evidence, he raised doubts about the electoral system. On several occasions, he has hinted that he would not accept any outcome other than his re-election. This caused a strong institutional crisis in 2021.

The strongest threat occurred in July of that year. “Next year’s elections will be clean. Either we have clean elections in Brazil or we don’t have elections,” he declared to supporters.

The following day, he reinforced the threat and stated that electoral fraud was at the TSE. Bolsonaro also attacked the then president of the electoral court and STF minister, Luís Roberto Barroso, whom he called an “idiot” and “imbecile”.

“The fraud is in the TSE, to be sure. This was done in 2014”, declared the president, repeating the unfounded accusation that the then candidate Aécio Neves (PSDB) had won the election against former president Dilma Rousseff (PT ).

3) HE SAID THAT IF IT WAS DEPENDENT ON HIM, WE WOULDN’T LIVE IN A DEMOCRATIC REGIME

Nostalgic for the military dictatorship (1964-1985), Bolsonaro has reiterated over the years his authoritarian tendency and his disregard for the democratic regime. He denied the existence of a dictatorship in Brazil and said he was in favor of “a regime of exception”, stating that “through 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, there would be a coup on the same day! It doesn’t work! And I’m sure that at least 90% of the population would party, would clap, because it doesn’t work,” he said.

Already in the Presidency, in 2021, he implied that he could not do everything he wanted because of the democratic pillars. “Some think I can do everything. If everything had to depend on me, this wouldn’t be the regime we would be living in. And despite everything, I represent democracy in Brazil,” he said at a cadet graduation.

Before that, throughout 2020, Bolsonaro participated in demonstrations defending a military coup.

4) ATTACKS ON STF MINISTERS AND COUPIST THREAT OF NOT COMPLYING WITH COURT DECISION

The STF was Bolsonaro’s favorite target throughout his term. He used terms such as “politicalha”, “it’s fucking over”, connection with PT, activism and militancy, in attacks that intensified from 2020, with the Covid-19 pandemic.

In March 2022, in the same ceremony in Planalto, he defended the military dictatorship and told STF ministers to shut up.

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 would only leave the Presidency of the Republic dead.

On September 7, 2022, in front of thousands of supporters on the Esplanada dos Ministérios, he spoke in a threatening tone against other Powers, with a critical quote against the STF.

5) ENCOURAGEMENT AND PARTICIPATION IN ANTI-DEMOCRATIC ACTS

Throughout his government, Bolsonaro called on allies and participated in different anti-democratic acts. An investigation was launched at the STF at the request of the PGR (Attorney General’s Office) to identify the organizers and financiers of the demonstrations that called for the closure of Congress and the STF, in addition to the return of the military dictatorship.

In one of the most acute demonstrations, on April 19, 2020, on top of the bed of a pickup truck, in front of the Army headquarters and addressing a gathering of pro-military intervention supporters, Bolsonaro stated that “the time of rascality” and shouted slogans such as “now the people are in power” and “we don’t want to negotiate anything”.

“We don’t want to negotiate anything. We want action for Brazil”, declared the president, who was participating in a demonstration in Brasília for the second day in a row, causing crowds amid the coronavirus pandemic. “Enough of the old politics. Now it’s Brazil above all and God above all.”

6) DUBBIOUS SPEECHES QUOTING ‘ARMY’ AND DON’T LEAVE THE ‘4 LINES’

Both in the context of threats to the elections and at the height of the pandemic, when Bolsonaro sought to oppose governors and mayors who decreed restrictive measures seeking to contain the circulation of the coronavirus, the then president made a series of dubious statements insinuating that he could take some extreme measure such as state of siege or state of defense.

On these occasions, he frequently mentioned the Armed Forces and the military, indicating that they would be his Army. He also repeated his slogan that he would not go beyond the four lines of the Constitution, despite most of the time making threats that would be unconstitutional.

7) ENCOURAGEMENT OF COUPIST CAMPS AFTER LULA’S DEFEAT IN THE ELECTION

The anti-democratic acts and camps that called for a military coup and escalated into cases of violence across the country were fanned by Bolsonaro since his defeat at the polls to Lula.

In the week of the defeat, in a quick statement, he said he defended the acts, having only condemned the roadblocks by his supporters. Days later, he broke a 40-day silence with a dubious speech that also excited his supporters with speech peppered with references to the Armed Forces in which he indirectly encouraged anti-democratic demonstrations.

In the few speeches after the result, he never directly admitted defeat, reinforced the unproven accusations against the electoral system and maintained a dubious speech implying that Lula’s inauguration as President was not guaranteed.

“I am sure that among my functions guaranteed in the Constitution is to be the supreme head of the Armed Forces. The Armed Forces are essential in any country in the world. I have always said over these four years that the Armed Forces are the last obstacle to socialism” , said Bolsonaro in December 2022, repeating an expression used several times throughout his term.