Assessor: Bolsonaro’s silence triggered the storm

Jair Bolsonaro’s rhetoric – and silence – provoked the brutal riots on Sunday, according to a number of observers.

The ex-president’s message has been crystal clear: If I am stripped of power, violence will follow.

– It was a ticking time bomb, says a political analyst in Brasília.

Through a fog of tear gas, pepper spray and powder from fire extinguishers, chaotic scenes unfold. A group of men smashes window panes with a picket fence, a carpet is set on fire. Artwork, furniture and computers are smashed to pieces. A mounted policeman is dragged to the ground by an enraged crowd. Dressed in yellow and green, the colors of the Brazilian flag, they beat the man with long sticks.

Sunday’s attack on the bastion of Brazilian democracy, when supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro stormed Congress, the presidential palace and the Supreme Court in Brasília, shocked the world. But for several Brazilian experts, the riots were expected – a tragic fulfillment of the prophecy Bolsonaro has repeatedly hammered home to his supporters: If I am stripped of power, violence will follow.

– Bolsonaro and Bolsonaro’s family have been talking about attacking the Supreme Court for years, says Esther Solano, a sociologist at the Federal University of São Paulo, to the Washington Post and continues:

– And in recent months, the rebellious rhetoric of Bolsonaro and his family has gathered even more strength.

Stack to Florida

Since Bolsonaro’s loss to Lula da Silva in the October election, the former president – sometimes called the “Trump of the tropics” – has been tight-lipped. He has neither officially admitted defeat nor opposed the transfer of power – nor has he said a word to stop the supporters who soon began to gather in the streets demanding a military coup to restore him to power.

In an echo of Donald Trump’s actions, he skipped Lula’s installation ceremony and left Brazil on December 30 for Florida, where he is still believed to be. In a tearful, live broadcast farewell, he called the election results unfair.

In Bolsonaro’s sudden absence, the most radical supporters then decided to make the ex-president’s rhetoric a reality, political analyst Alexandre Bandeira told the Washington Post.

– This was expected. It was a ticking time bomb.

Glorifies the military junta

Among Bolsonaro’s most extreme supporters is a small – but violent – ​​group of die-hard advocates of military rule. They glorify the Brazilian military regime that began with the 1964 coup d’état, a regime that tortured and killed dissidents but was, they say, free of corruption and criminality.

In Bolsonaro – who had portraits of the military dictatorship’s leader in his office and who lamented the fact that more were not killed under the junta’s rule – they found an equal and a champion.

When Bolsonaro claimed before the election in October that Lula da Silva would “steal” the election from the Brazilian people, they listened.

– If necessary, we will go to war, Bolsonaro said during the election campaign in June.

“Terrible” silence

But when Lula was declared the election winner, Bolsonaro fell silent. As his supporters blocked highways, attacked police stations and camped out in front of military bases, he remained tight-lipped. In the silence, the most radical Bolsonaro supporters found a foothold, say analysts.

– His silence was terrible. It signaled to the most ideological part of his followers that he supports them, that they are doing the job that their boss cannot, said political scientist Jairo Nicolau of the Rio de Janeiro institute Fundacão Getulio Vargas.

He continues:

– His silence was the main spark that ignited the protests that are now underway.

Facts

Jair Bolsonaro

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