The Brazilian Congress approves Lula’s decree of intervention in the DF
Thursday, January 12, 2023 – 11:32 UTC
Lula also announced an amendment that would increase penalties for racist language
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva received the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP), and the Acting President of the Senate, Veneziano Vital do Rego (MDB), at the Planalto Palace on Wednesday, for a symbolic reception handing over the Presidential Decree on Sunday, which mandates federal intervention in the Federal District (DF) Safe Areas and which was ratified by Congress earlier this week.
At the meeting, Lula thanked lawmakers for the speedy approval of the measure and insisted the terrorist attacks were the work of a group that ultimately must be held accountable.
“I think what happened here, I don’t want to think about a coup, I even want to think about something smaller, who maybe knows a bunch of crazy people who still don’t understand that the election is over; that they still don’t want to accept that the electronic ballot box is perhaps the most perfect voting model that we have in every country in the world,” Lula said.
Furthermore, “it was an act of vandalism, an act of bandits, because the steel cables were bolted. That means someone intentionally cut the cables to the two big towers. This had already happened at the end of the year in Rondônia in Eletronorte, which had been demolished,” he added.
“What they are doing with this decree is saying that we must punish. We must punish those who do not want to respect the law, those who do not want to respect the democratic order that has cost so much since the 1988 constitution,” he continued.
“Any gesture that violates Brazilian democracy will be punished within the limits of the punishment permitted by law. Everyone, everyone will have the right to defend themselves, everyone will have the right to prove their innocence, but everyone will be punished,” he said, confirming that his decree is necessary to combat vandalism and violations of the constitution.
“Handing over the draft decree-law is in line with the democratic, legal and constitutional rite, which will surely continue its course with dialogue and determination in defense of democracy,” Lira said.
For Vital do Rego, the decree shows the country’s unity in the fight against terrorist attacks. “It shows the solidarity of the 27 entities that brought support and said they were outraged by the actions of those who imagined they were shaking our institutional pillars,” he said.
“Fascism and terror have only one position in history: the position of struggle, of confrontation,” said Senator Randolfe Rodrigues, an ally of Lula. “Each of the terrorists, wherever they are, whether they wear a parliamentary pin or not, wear a smock or not, wear a uniform or not, wherever they are, whoever they are, I am sure that the Democrats of the Lula will respond to defend the nation under attack and democracy,” he added.
Meanwhile, President Lula passed an amendment to the penal code that equates racial slurs with racism and increases prison terms to five years. The sanctioning ceremony coincided with the inauguration of Sonia Guajajara as Minister for Indigenous Peoples and Anielle Franco as Minister for Racial Equality.
Racist slurs are now punishable by imprisonment from 2 to 5 years, an increase from the previous penalty of 1 to 3 years. The penalty is doubled if the offense is committed by two or more people. It will also increase when the offense of racial slur is committed at sporting or cultural events and for humorous purposes.
The new law meets the criteria of the Federal Court of Justice (STF), which in October last year equated racist insults with racism and thus made insults, like racism, a crime without a statute of limitations.
Racial slurs are offenses against someone, an individual, because of their race, color, ethnicity or national origin. And racism is when an entire community is discriminated against, for example when a black person is prevented from taking a job or entering a store because of the color of their skin.
(Source: Brazilian agency)