Brazil is the country of the coup without cost or consequence. Among our laws of history, amnesty, also called pacification, is among our most resounding continuities. It should not be confused with Christian and merciful forgiveness, with ethical or democratic pardon. It is, above all, a tradition of authoritarian complicity.
The not only reminded us that “in the history of Brazil, when coup attempts failed, there was always amnesty”, but also enumerated them. There were seven successful coup attempts (1889, 1930, 1937, 1945, 1954, 1955, 1964) against seven failed attempts (1904, 1922, 1924, 1956, 1959, 1961, 2022-2023).
This curious tie score is misleading in one respect: in the 14 occasions of attacks on the law and the rule of law, none resulted in accountability. But it was during the redemocratization of 1988, in the search for a more robust constitutional culture of rights and freedoms, that it was possible to speak more seriously about truth, memory and justice.
Three philosophies of memory clash in Brazilian politics. The first, taken up by Dilma Rousseff in the Truth Commission, by human rights movements and public prosecutors who are still trying to interpret the Amnesty Law in light of the letter and spirit of the 1988 Constitution, was summarized by Eunice Paiva in “”: ” You need to know the past to prevent it from repeating itself.”
The second, defended years ago by , which joined forces with the military to assert that the Amnesty Law helps us prevent revanchism, was summarized by: “The 1964 coup is already part of history, the people have already won the right to democratize this country. and I’m going to try to move this country forward.”
While Lula, who joined the military to embrace the philosophy of “let’s look forward” and plays with the inertia of the status quo to facilitate the continuity of political delinquency, Eunice Paiva’s current continues to shout “we can’t look forward without looking back.”
The third philosophy is perhaps best represented in the STF. And the person who summed it up in the most crystal clear way was a lawyer from Rio who has clients such as Flávio Bolsonaro for the cracks, Anderson Torres for the 8th of January, Sérgio Cabral for the public accounts and military personnel accused of killing and disappearing with the body of Rubens Paiva. He said:
“The process had been at a standstill for around ten years. It started moving again after the premiere of the film ‘I’m Still Here’. The impression that the country gives to the international scene is that Brazilian public agencies only work when there is someone watching.”
“Working” when there is “someone watching” captures the STF’s motto very well. Since 2014, he slept on complaints against five soldiers accused of murder, concealment of a corpse and armed gang against Rubens Paiva. Two still alive receive salaries, while relatives of the three dead receive pensions. In 2024, when he enchants the world in , Alexandre de Moraes asked for action.
In the face of the January 8th coup attempt, the consequences of which are still open, Lula and the STF promise. As if 64 could be buried.
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