Supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro who were taken by police on a bus for identity checks after the attack on official state buildings in Brasilia on January 9, 2023. ADRIANO MACHADO / Portal
No doubt is allowed: Renato Barao is a pure Bolsonarist. The 41-year-old unemployed man, who lives in Sao Paulo, threw himself headlong into the presidential election battle in October 2022. During the election campaign, he worked for a time as a commentator on TV Piaui, a far-right YouTube channel that was conspiratorial, shut down by federal police for spreading false information and defamation.
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But today Renato is angry with his people. “What happened on January 8 is madness, madness! ‘ he confides to World on WhatsApp the looting of Brasilia’s institutions by far-right activists. “I’m a legalist. These ridiculous amateurs wanted to make their Brazilian capital. The thugs need to be identified, brought to justice and locked up,” he said. Renato isn’t the only Bolsonarist to disapprove of the riots in Brasilia. As the capital licks its wounds and those responsible are gradually jailed, the former President’s supporters are trying to digest the events. Between confusion, distrust and determination, some are shaken by the first doubts and are already trying to reunite.
“We have to distinguish between Jair Bolsonaro’s voters and the militant Bolsonarists,” recalls Camila Rocha, a political scientist at the University of Sao Paulo. The most radical conspiracy to challenge Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s electoral victory and call for a military coup would constitute this “a few hundred thousand people,” the researcher estimates. The right-wing extremist captain recruits his “soldiers” from this breeding ground.
allegations against the left
Lt. Col. Luiz Fernando Walther de Almeida, 69, also watched in anger as the palaces of Brasilia were looted. This pensioner, who accompanied Jair Bolsonaro’s promotion to the military academy, had been present at all the far-right demonstrations organized against the Rio military command in recent months. “We sang the national anthem, we shouted ‘SOS forces, save Brazil!’ It was always peaceful,” he swears. On January 8, “the crowd turned into a mob, uncontrollable, stormy,” laments the lieutenant colonel. He’s angry at the state for not bringing order, but also at them “Radicals” and the “bad leaders” who “threw everyone into the abyss.” “Today we have a new government. There’s no point in continuing to demonstrate. It’s over,” he concludes.
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