The debate about the 8/1 attacks and the amnesty for those involved in the coup attempt led by the former president () boosted the discussion about military dictatorship in .
A survey carried out by Sheet points out that deputies and guests spoke about the military dictatorship at least 250 times over two years and five months in the House plenary, according to speeches and shorthand notes recorded on the Chamber’s website.
Of the total number of demonstrations, 46% explicitly cite amnesty or the destruction of the headquarters of the three Powers.
The survey was carried out by searching for the term “” in the period from January 8, 2023, the date of the coup attacks in , to June 10, 2025, the day on which Bolsonaro was involved in the criminal action that led to his conviction for leading the coup plot.
The politician was sentenced to 3 months in prison in the case judged by the (Supreme Federal Court). There is still an appeal.
Of the 250 mentions found in the search, 114 (46%) deal with amnesty or the 8th of January and 136 (54%) do not do so directly, even though the topic may appear in a non-nominal or explicit way in these cases.
The result comes from filtering done by Sheet. It does not include any and all mentions that could come from other searches. In isolation, for example, the term “dictatorship” generates almost a thousand documents because it even includes mentions with little context.
Bolsonarists have insisted on pressing for amnesty, but the center’s articulation in the Chamber of Deputies sought to adapt the proposal for a reduction in sentences, known as the Dosimetry PL.
The day with the most demonstrations about dictatorship was April 1, 2025, the anniversary of the 1964 military coup. The date had a peak of 35 mentions. In second place was November 26, 2024, due to the repercussions of the coup plot process, which occurred five days earlier.
The third date with the most citations is March 26, 2025, when the case.
When the analysis of the speeches in the Chamber focuses on the way in which the military dictatorship appears in the parliamentarians’ speech, there is everything from a majority view that denounces the horrors of the regime to demonstrations in favor of the 1964 coup.
Overall, the parties that most addressed the topic were , with 112 mentions out of a total of 250, and , with 59. In third, comes the PL (21 mentions). The three parties have, respectively, 67, 14 and 88 deputies in the Chamber.
The report divided all mentions found into five groups: 1) demonstration against dictatorial regimes; 2) in favor of or justifying a dictatorship; 3) focusing on the amnesty on January 8th; 4) criticism that relativizes the seriousness of a dictatorship or compares the current period of democracy to a dictatorial scenario; 5) comments that are neutral or too brief to be categorized.
The classification was made based on the predominant content of the message, even though the content could fit into more than one case.
Of the total number of demonstrations, the largest group, with 188 mentions, made observations that stood out for being against dictatorial regimes. He approached the topic using expressions such as “” and obscure, recalling torture and deaths, such as a speech by Chico Alencar (PSOL-RJ), on October 25, 2023, about the death of journalist Vladimir Herzog.
Remembrances about Bolsonaro’s position and tributes to those persecuted by the 1964 regime also appear in the speeches.
Another highlight is the reference to artistic works, from the film “”, by Walter Salles, to Afro blocks as a space of resistance. The period is also remembered to talk about the importance of penalizing those involved in the most recent coup attack.
In this group, PT and PSOL predominated. The non-party classification was given to guests who were in the Chamber and whose party affiliation was not registered on the House website.
In the analysis, five speeches, all from PL parliamentarians, were classified as being in favor, denying or justifying the dictatorship.
In one of them, deputy Zé Trovão (PL-SC) calls the 1964 coup “bullshit”. “It’s very easy for the left, which doesn’t even have the slightest respect for this House, to stick with this soft speech, this bullshit from 64, about dictatorship! The dictatorship only existed for bums! The dictatorship only existed for terrorists!”, . The speech was made in the context of defending the vote on the amnesty project.
comes from Nelson Barbudo (PL-MT), on the same date, when he said that “the military did little to beat this bunch that comes here to confront me”. There is also another one, one from (PL-MT) and another from (PL-RN).
A third set of parliamentarians spoke about the matter, highlighting an amnesty for those involved in January 8th. Ten mentions were classified in this category, 9 from PL and 1 from PSD.
The predominant discourse in this case is in favor of an amnesty, citing the fact that this has already happened to people who “kidnapped and killed”, in reference to the 1979 pardon given to people who fought against the dictatorship.
There are also mentions of figures condemned by the invasion of the three Powers, such as Débora Rodrigues, who became known for having . It is also common to refer to former president Dilma Rousseff (PT), cited as a “criminal” belonging to a group already amnestied.
A fourth group spoke of dictatorship, commenting on the hypocrisy of the left in not criticizing authoritarian regimes in ideologically aligned countries. He also mobilized the idea that there is currently a judicial dictatorship in Brazil or that freedom of expression is at risk.
Nine speeches were classified in the category, 7 from PL, 1 from Podemos and 1 from Novo. One of them is from deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP). He criticizes the left and says that Brazil is currently experiencing “a dictatorship”.
The discourse about a “dictatorship of the toga” is frequent among right-wing parliamentarians and goes beyond the mentions identified in this research, which focused on speeches on the Chamber’s website using the term “military dictatorship”. Alone, the term “dictatorship of the toga” generates at least 75 mentions on the website in the period analyzed, the majority from the PL.
A last group, with 38 statements, was classified as neutral or unidentified because it briefly referred to the researched term.
Of the total of 250 mentions, the parliamentarians who spoke the most were Erika Kokay (PT-DF), with 21 speeches, followed by Chico Alencar and Ivan Valente (PSOL-SP), with 18 each, all three speaking against undemocratic regimes.
