That motto emblazoned proudly across the Brazilian national flag means “order and progress” but the scenes from Brasilia were anything but as supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro laid siege to the Congress building, the Presidential Palace, and the Supreme Court and wreaked havoc destroying everything they could get their hands on.
Among other conspiracy theories, these vandals claimed that widespread election fraud was why Bolsonaro lost to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the most recent election.
And like our insurrection two years prior almost to the day, the chatter on social media and pro-Bolsonaro camps springing up near military bases throughout the Federal District meant that whilst the scope of the violence and vandalism might well have been a surprise, the fact that the protests would be happening wasn’t.
Jair Bolsonaro had conveniently fled the country a week before to take up residence in Florida but I would not be surprised if the Brazilian government has quietly made it clear to the US authorities that they do expect cooperation under the 1997 accord with respect to extradition of individuals who are accused of criminal offences.
With Bolsonaro’s nephew being positively identified amongst the criminals that stormed the government buildings in Brasilia, I don’t think it’ll take long for President Lula’s government to find enough evidence to bring Jair Bolsonaro back to Brazil to face charges.
To be fair, Lula’s hands aren’t exactly clean and he and other notable figures in his Worker’s Party spent time in jail on corruption charges related to Operation Car Wash which centred on bribery and money laundering on behalf of the massive oil company Petrobras. The charges were later vacated by the Brazilian Supreme Court and Lula was allowed to stand for re-election to the Presidency due to prosecutorial misconduct and illicit communications that came to light after his conviction and sentencing.
But with 1,500 arrested so far and Jair Bolsonaro’s suspected complicity in fomenting the chaos and insurrection in Brasilia, I doubt the Brazilian government will waste a whole lot of time holding anyone who had anything to do with the storming of Brasilia to account in the prisoner’s dock.
And whilst Bolsonaro was stabbed during his successful presidential campaign and he’s had occasional trips to hospital as a result, I don’t think that conveniently timed trip to a central Florida hospital for Bolsonaro will keep him from eventually finding himself back in Brazil.
The government can’t afford to screw around more than the governor of the Federal District and the security forces have already done to allow the capital to be ransacked. That governor has already been suspended for 90 days and I don’t doubt more heads will be rolling soon.
For all of the eerie similarities between the sacking of Brasilia and the storming of our Capitol building two years prior almost to the day, there is a very important difference between Brazil and the United States in terms of the strength of their democracy and their institutions.
Until 1985, democracy was not something the average Brazilian was used to experiencing from their government as they were ruled by a succession of military-backed dictators who were brought to power with US assistance in 1964 when they deposed the lawful government of the time with unfounded fears of a plot to turn Brazil into a communist state.
There are many Brazilians who remember the bad old days of the military dictatorship and how closely the military keeps an eye on the civilian government. If Brazil were to slip back into military dictatorship, I don’t know that they’re coming back out of it whole and that’d be a darned shame because Brazil and it’s people are wonderful and rightfully proud of their beautiful country.
It doesn’t take much these days for the violence and anti-democratic madness to spread as violently and quickly as a virus.
We must be ever on our guard against those evil forces who would try to subjugate us to the whims of a dictatorship, whether it be a military one or a theocratic/military dictatorship certain extremist elements in this country would wish us to become.
I’ve no doubt that the vast majority of Brazil will reject the actions of these lawless criminals as the domestic terrorists they are and will do what they can to ensure that their federal republic remains a modern democracy they can be proud of.
Order and progress.
Here’s hoping that Brazil will quickly find both and swiftly punish those who threatened the peace and stability of the country.
And whilst we’re at it, we’re well past the time of holding those to account for their roles in the January 6th insurrection here at home.