Deeds bear similarities to the invasion of the Capitol, an event that took place in the United States (Photo: Sergio Lima / AFP)
World leaders condemned the invasion of various parts of the Esplanada dos Ministries in Brasilia this Sunday afternoon (8) by coup protesters supporting former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).
One of the first to speak was Gabriel Boric, the Chilean President. “The Brazilian government has our full support in the face of this cowardly and heinous attack on democracy,” he said via Twitter.
Another leader who denied the acts was Alberto Fernández, President of Argentina, through a series of messages published on Twitter in which he supported President Lula and mentioned an “attempted coup d’etat”. “Anyone who attempts to disregard the will of the majority threatens democracy and deserves not only an appropriate legal response but also condemnation from the international community,” reads one of the posts.
Mexican President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador also classified the episode as an attempted coup in a message condemning the invasion. During a visit to the border with Mexico, US President Joe Biden said the situation in Brazil was appalling.
Continue reading: See What Bolsonaro Allies Said About Invading Congress
Gustavo Petro, President of Colombia, also took to the social network to say that an OAS (Organization of American States) meeting is urgent given the situation. “All my solidarity with Lula and the Brazilian people. Fascism decides to attack. The right has not honored the nonviolence pact,” he added.
The secretary general of the OAS, Luis Almagro, described the acts via his Twitter account as “actions of a fascist nature”. “We condemn the attack on institutions in Brasilia, which is a reprehensible act and a direct attack on democracy,” he also said.
Ignacio Ybez, Ambassador of the European Union to Brazil, said he was “following with great concern the antidemocratic acts and the violent actions in the Praça dos Três Poderes”. The US Embassy issued a warning to US citizens in Brasilia to avoid the attacked region.
The Portuguese government, led by Prime Minister Antnio Costa (Socialist Party), rejected the antidemocratic acts. In a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Portuguese government said it “condemns the acts of violence and disorder that took place in Brasilia today” and reiterated its “unequivocal support for the Brazilian authorities in restoring order and lawfulness”.
“The Government expresses its full solidarity with the Presidency of the Republic of Brazil, the Congress and the Supreme Court, whose buildings were damaged during the antidemocracy demonstrations that took place this afternoon,” the text reads. Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa also condemned the incident. The head of state spoke live via phone call during the newscast on SIC, one of the country’s audience leaders.
Other European heads of state and government also spoke. French President Emmanuel Macron declared that “democratic institutions must be respected” and that “President Lula can count on France’s unconditional support”. Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Snchez also offered his support to the president and “the institutions freely and democratically elected by the Brazilian people”.
“I condemn in the strongest terms the attack on the democratic institutions in Brazil,” said Charles Michel, President of the European Council.
US officials also gave statements of support. US President Joe Biden, who traveled to El Paso this Sunday, described the attack in Brazil as “outrageous”.
Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, said Biden is “closely monitoring” the situation. “Our support for Brazil’s democratic institutions is unwavering. Brazilian democracy is not shaken by violence,” he said.
Foreign Minister Antony Blinken stated that “the use of force to attack democratic institutions is always unacceptable”.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, a member of the commission investigating the Capitol invasion, said democratic countries must act quickly, comparing the situation to what happened in the US: “These fascists who attacked the March 6 protesters… have January as a model [seguidores] of Trump must end up in the same place: in jail”.
The putschists entered areas of the National Congress, Planalto and the STF (Federal Court), spreading acts of vandalism and vandalism and clashing with military police.
The acts bear similarities to the event that took place in the United States, which coincidentally ended two years this week. The Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol invasion was sparked by a speech by thenPresident Donald Trump in Washington that prompted protesters to invade the US Legislature building to prevent confirmation of Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory Republicans and his supporters still cling to the false speech that the election was cheated.
The biggest recent attack on American democracy has been labeled by many as an attempted coup and has become the target of a series of investigations by the Justice Department, the FBI and Congress itself. The attack killed five people, including a police officer.
Since then, federal police have arrested more than 950 people the investigation is believed to be the largest in the agency’s history and has indicted 940 people, according to the Program on Extremism, a group at George Washington University. More than half of the accused, 482, pleaded guilty and a further 44 were found guilty by the judiciary.
The action, endorsed this Sunday by supporters of former President Bolsonaro, comes a week after the inauguration of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), which has been preceded by antidemocratic actions fueled by the former president’s coup rhetoric during the legislature were inflated.
President Lula is not in Brasilia this weekend he traveled to So Paulo and visited Araraquara in inland São Paulo to escort victims of the rains.
Those responsible could be punished in court under the AntiTerror Law, legislation Bolsonaristas themselves have been trying to tighten to punish leftwing protesters.
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Giuliana Miranda from Lisbon and Thiago Amncio from Washington worked together