The Minister of the Supreme Court drew a parallel on Friday between the current offensive abroad led by Bolsonarists and the 2022 and 2023 coup actions, such as camps in favor of military intervention and 8 January.
The magistrate dealt with the invested in favor of tariff to Brazilian products for his own and other ministers such as acts with the same modus operandi of engineered coup actions, according to (Attorney General’s Office), by a criminal organization led by the former president (PL).
“Before camps in front of the barracks, invasion in the Praça dos Três Powers, so that there was, as more than 500 defendants confessed, the call of GLO [Garantia da Lei e da Ordem] And from the Armed Forces, generating a national commotion and there was the possibility of the coup, “he said.
“Modus Operandi is the same. I encourage taxation to Brazil, encouraging the economic crisis, which generates social crisis, which in turn generates political crisis, so that there is a social instability and the possibility of a new coup attack.”
For experts heard by Sheetthe onslaught of Bolsonarists abroad is similar to the actions that led to January 8, with a message from Moraes to politicians such as (PL-SP), which has headed the offensive in the United States.
Experts talk about continuing attacks on ministers and attempting to inflate the population against institutions, this time focusing on foreign support and the purpose of achieving an amnesty.
The speech of Moraes took place in the judiciary. The president of the Court, Luis Roberto Barroso, Minister Gilmar Mendes, Attorney General of the Republic, and Jorge Messias, Attorney General of the Union.
The pronouncements were aligned in defense of national sovereignty and the independence of the judiciary. The demonstration was a response to recent United States sanctions against Brazil and authorities. Sanctions are linked to the pressure for the interruption of the criminal action that judges Bolsonaro for attempted coup and are encouraged, especially, by Eduardo Bolsonaro.
In the session, Moraes also spoke of the pressure to the legislature. He referred to a recent demonstration by Eduardo, who commented on the possibility of sanction by the United States to the mayor (Republicans-PB), and the Senate, David Alcolumbre (Brazil-AP Union), if they do not guide the amnesty or an impeachment request from the minister.
“Direct threats. ‘Either you vote for amnesty or tariffs will continue. Either you vote for the amnesty or you will also have applied the law of financial death []’. Threats to the presidents of Brazilian congressional houses without the slightest institutional respect, without the slightest shame, without the slightest shame, in the explicit blackmail to try to obtain an unconstitutional amnesty, “said Moraes.
The minister associated the actions with coercion offenses in the course of the process, obstruction and attack on sovereignty, due to his performance abroad.
For Ricardo Yamin, a doctor of law at PUC-SP, the minister’s speech about the continuity of the coup makes sense in showing the permanence of commitment to mobilize society against “scarecrows” and political enemies.
“Playing the population against the Supreme, saying that Brazil’s GDP will be affected and that unemployment will be created because of a STF judge is basically continuing to inflate the population.”
Welington Arruda, a criminalist lawyer and master in law and justice from IDP (Brazilian Institute of Teaching, Development and Research), says there is similarity between the actions abroad and those that led to January 8.
He compares the logic of attacks on democratic institutions in 2022 with the current “massive campaign” of delegitimation of the Supreme Court, this time more supported by Eduardo’s offensive abroad.
One difference, however, is that Bolsonarists would now have less resource to trigger the same modus operandi of institutions’ discredit with the population, as they no longer have the state machine to inflate supporters against authorities.
He sees “an attempt to internationalize the political and judicial impasse through the pressure” of Brazilians abroad.
“There is a huge attempt to co-opt American congressmen to pressure the Brazilian judiciary. There are economic sanctions against Brazil, with real results in tariffs that will harm national exports. There is also a diffusion of media strategies to embarrass ministers and influence them on criminal trials,” he says.
For Elaini Silva, PhD in international law from USP and professor at PUC-SP, the current invested abroad of Eduardo and allies is a climb of previous actions of a coup.
She says that it is common in Brazil’s political history looking for national groups for partnership with external interlocutors seen as moral authority.
The difference in the performance of Eduardo and allies abroad, however, would be in an attempt to attack the Brazilian legal system to obtain personal benefits.
“The differential is that these actions are being taken for people to evade accountability for crimes in a democratic context – and with effects for the entire community,” he says.
