At conservative event, right-wing attacks STF, press and defends coup attempt

Carol Veras – From Cenarium

MANAUS (AM) – Names from the Brazilian and international right met this Saturday, January 6, in Balneário Camboriú (SC), at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where they promoted attacks on the Federal Supreme Court (STF), the press and exalted the coup plotters who invaded the buildings of the Three Powers on January 8 of last year. The event was attended by former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and the current Argentine president, Javier Milei.

The conference began with a presentation by federal lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP), who, without specifying, said that the political group suffers from censorship. The speech was directed at the STF. “It’s good that you came and didn’t bend to censorship. You show that you are not afraid of those who want to silence us. This meeting will be a watershed. Let’s go home and make this wave reverberate because we will return to power. Don’t stop, don’t rush and don’t go backwards”, said Bolsonaro’s son.

Bolsonaro, on the other hand, said he was willing to clarify the accusations against him. He criticized the attacks of the “mainstream press”. “The press that criticizes me, the mainstream press, once again I am at your disposal, for two hours live to be interviewed about anything”, he said, without directly mentioning the investigations against him.

Lawmaker Bia Kicis (PL-DF) also spoke and defended the “political prisoners” of January 8, a term Bolsonaro supporters use to refer to those convicted of attacks on the headquarters of the Supreme Court, the Planalto Palace and the National Congress. The parliamentarian criticized the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB). “Let’s hear it for the lawyers who have the courage to defend our persecuted politicians on January 8”, she said.

A former minister in Bolsonaro’s government, former deputy Onyx Lorenzoni encouraged the audience to militate for the right to return to power. “Green and yellow Brazil will return”, said Lorenzoni at the event, which aims to strengthen Bolsonaro’s alliance with global far-right movements.

The extreme right is the result of ideologies whose historical characteristics are opposition to multiculturalism, scientific delegitimization, xenophobia, extreme nationalism and the discrediting of democratic institutions to justify totalitarian regimes. Bolsonaro’s far-right narrative had the affinity of 61.28% of Manaus voters in the 2022 elections.

Jewels

Neither Bolsonaro nor his allies referred to the indictment of the former president by the Federal Police (PF) for selling luxury items received as gifts from the Brazilian government, such as jewelry. Some of Bolsonaro’s main allies were indicted: Fabio Wajngarten, General Mauro Cid Lorenna, Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, lawyer Frederick Wassef, Marcelo Câmara, Bento Albuquerque, José Roberto Bueno Júnior, Júlio Cesar Vieira, Marcelo Vieira, Marcos André do Santos Soeiro and Osmar Crivelatti.

The case of the jewelry has its origins in a report in the newspaper O Estado de S.Paulo, which revealed Bolsonaro’s attempt to get back some of the jewelry gifted by the Arabs and seized by the Internal Revenue Service upon landing in Brazil.

Milei’s presence

Milei is in the country unofficially, disregarding diplomatic protocols, without even informing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). On Sunday, the Argentine president will take part in meetings with businessmen and the governor of Santa Catarina, Jorginho Mello (PL), before speaking at the event.

“Milei and Bolsonaro on stage will be a humiliation for Lula, who won’t even be able to set foot in Santa Catarina anymore”, federal lawmaker Júlia Zanatta (PL-SC), one of the speakers at the event, told Folha.

Other significant figures for the Latin American and European right will also be present. From Chile, José Antônio Kast, who lost the presidential election to the leftist Gabriel Boric in 2021 and is one of the favorites in the next elections, will be present. Representatives of European parties are also expected, such as the Portuguese ‘Chega!’ and the Group of Conservatives and Reformists of the European Parliament.

Milei and Lula

Javier Milei’s first visit to Brazil after his election comes amid controversial statements involving President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, with accusations being exchanged on both sides.

In a post on social media last week, Javier Milei called President Lula a “perfect idiot dinosaur”, along with a series of criticisms of the Brazilian president, touching on subjects such as the attempted coup in Bolivia and the presidential election in Brazil the previous year. “If we had done things the way that big idiot dinosaur said, he would have lost by now,” he wrote.

For this visit to Brazil, the Argentine government informed Itamaraty that Milei’s trip would be a “private visit”, eliminating any possibility of a meeting with President Lula.

Read also: The ‘dance’ of the Bolsonarists in Amazonas for the 2024 elections

Edited by Marcela Leiros
Translated by Bruno Sena