Antidemocratic protests receive help from at least five companies in Manaus

Ívina Garcia – From Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – The antidemocratic protests against the election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) already last 16 days in Manaus, capital of Amazonas. Started on November 2, in front of the Military Command of the Amazon (CMA), West zone, the movement receives donations and incentives from at least five companies.

In a recent determination by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, 43 companies and individuals suspected of financing anti-democratic acts had their bank accounts blocked. In the decision, the magistrate recalls that the right to strike and demonstrate are legitimate, as long as they do not harm social welfare and the democratic state of law.

In Amazonas, the federal judge Jaiza Fraxe decreed, the night of the 16th, that the financiers and promoters of the demonstrations in front of the CMA were identified. The magistrate highlighted in the conclusion that the act “remains illegal, […] by promoting acts similar to anarchy – when the country is a Federative Republic and we all must obey the laws and the Constitution”.

Fraxe appointed an expert to collaborate in identifying the “source of funding for food, who provides, if there is authorization from health surveillance, if there is sale, trade and invoices and if effectively there are police officers making use of meals on site”.

The man who appears in red shirt in images caught by CENARIUM was identified as responsible for delivering the donations. The car he used is on behalf Ednei Rocha da Silva, the businessman owns the shops Elshaday Variety and Planet Pet Shop, both located in the neighborhood Armando Mendes, East zone of Manaus.

Read also: Federal Court triggers PF to reinstate public road after breach of decision in protests of Bolsonaristas

CENARIUM MAGAZINE caught on Thursday afternoon, 17, the delivery of one of the donations to the extremist act in front of the CMA. A Chevrolet S10 model car supplies the protesters with water and soft drinks. The report investigated the vehicle’s number plate data and managed to identify that the owner is a businessman in the retail industry.

The report also had access to a video that shows another donation of bales of water, this time from the company Tuboaços da Amazônia. In the images, the narrator, a member of the anti-democratic act, declares that it is “another Tuboaços donation”. The protester asks people to spread the video. “Share it there, because Tuboaços is our friend”.

See video

During the investigation, the report identified three names on the board of the company Tuboaços da Amazonia: Fabiano Moreira Magalhães, Maria de Fátima Moreira and Sergiani Costa de Alcantara. The company is responsible for manufacturing displays, point of sale material, promotional items and signage.

CENARIUM located a lawsuit in the name of Fabiano Moreira Magalhães, filed by the National Mining Agency. According to the lawsuit, Fabiano was fined for non-payment or late payment of the Annual Fee per Hectare (TAH), which with interest comes to R$ 5,000.

One of the first companies to make food and beverage donations to the anti-democratic protests in Manaus, on 11 November, was the supermarket Baratão da Carne, the businessman Edilson Rufino, which is quoted in videos in which employees appear supplying a vehicle of protesters with food and drinks.

Read also: In AM, supermarket finances antidemocratic act; ‘Donation we won the Baratão da Carne’

In the video, an unidentified woman talks about the donation received: “We are at this moment, picking up, here, to take to the demonstration […], 12 boxes of chicken, ten bales of soda, bale of flour, bale of coffee, ten packets of sausage […], practically, R$ 5 thousand in donation”, says the woman.

See video:

Other donation flagrants sent to CENARIUM show the truck of a metallurgical services company unloading bales of drinks at the site. From the plate, the report identified the company Jumar Indústria Comercio e Serviços Metalúrgicos, whose partners are businessmen Sardis Chaves Monteiro Junior and Ladilson Almeida Lima.

The truck is registered under the company’s name and the image shows uniformed employees unloading the drinks.

The vehicle registered in the name of the company Portal Vidros was also caught unloading groceries at the anti-democratic demonstration at the Amazon Military Command. Registered to the partners Tulhio Moreira Israel and Luiz Israel da Silva, the black truck was seen making donations by residents who sent the photo to CENARIUM.

Apparently, there are other companies involved in donations and financing of anti-democratic demonstrations in Manaus. Messages shared in WhatsApp groups by people who seem to be in the organization of acts indicate the existence of other donors. Members of the chat group ask not to be shared more videos and photos of companies and materials received.

“Popular Movement”

The far-right protesters claim to the press that the protests held in front of the CMA have no organisation and are “popular movements”, led by the people. At the site, 16 chemical toilets have been rented and available for the support of the protesters for 16 days, as well as a power generator, tents for lunch and tents.

The report contacted the leader of the Conservative Movement in Manaus, Sergio Kruke, responsible for organizing demonstrations and pro-Bolsonaro acts, and he denied organizing the acts in front of the barracks. “There is no leadership in this movement in front of the barracks, it is an organic manifestation of the population”, he said.

The financing of anti-democratic acts is a crime and can lead to the arrest of the identified donors. According to Article 286 of the Penal Code, anyone who “publicly incites animosity between the armed forces, or between the armed forces and constitutional powers, civil institutions, or society” can be imprisoned for three to six months, or fined.

The university professor, writer and anthropologist, Paulo Queiroz, explains that social movements are actions that seek to reveal the indignation of a people who aim to be included in the democratic process of law. According to him, in anthropology, these movements are called “identitarian”.

“Identitarian because they have a social identity, such as, for example, the demands for improvements in neighbourhoods, the feminist movements, environmental movements, LGBTs, riverine movements… These are social movements”, he says.

The demonstrators in front of the barracks are calling for federal intervention because they disagree with the result of this year’s presidential election. Despite not shouting coup phrases and exchanging the discourse of “military intervention”, experts say that the speech is makeup to ask for dictatorship.

Read also: ‘SOS Armed Forces is makeup of speech to ask for dictatorship’, say experts on act in the CMA

Paulo Queiroz says that what occurs in front of the CMA cannot be called an organised movement, this because the anti-democratic demonstration aims to attack the democratic process of law.

“I can’t call this an organised movement, because it has no reformist or revolutionary character. It [the protest] has a litigious character, of establishing confusion and chaos, just to see the result of its force”, concludes Paulo.