Bolsonaro assured that the Supreme Court is preparing the ground to stop him | The opposition denounced an attempted “auto-coup”

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has deepened his crusade against the Supreme Court and accused its members of “preparing the ground” to stop it, under the pretext of a likely attack on democracy.

The president called on the population to defend “freedom of expression” and to demonstrate against the highest court on September 7 (independence day), a call which was interpreted by the opposition as an attempt to ” auto-kick “.

“What they are looking for (with the processes) is to wait for the moment to impose a restrictive sanction on me, maybe when I leave the government, later,” Bolsonaro told the official Fonte Fm radio station. , from the central state of Goiás. .

A few days earlier, during an evangelical service, he had declared that three options awaited him for the future: “Go to prison, die or be victorious”.

The president’s accusations against the court, which have intensified in recent weeks, include Alexandre de Moraes, who arrested friends of Bolsonaro for mounting attacks on democracy and financing alleged coup attempts, in the part of a megacause against the factories of false information in which the head of state himself was included.

Bolsonaro also faces two other cases in the High Court, one for procrastination, following the purchase of vaccines, and another for attacking the electoral system, after repeating the theory that there had been fraud in past elections and that this situation will be repeated in the next elections.

“I say that we are facing very strong pressure against freedom of expression. We cannot speak of early treatment against the pandemic, we cannot speak against electronic voting,” said the far-right president. .

On September 7, as 199 years have passed since the declaration of independence, he called on the population to defend “freedom of expression” and to participate in the mobilisations that will take place in Brasilia and São Paulo against the Court, against who has already confirmed his presence.

Its supporters, for their part, summoned the Supreme Federal Court to intervene militarily, located in one of the summits of the Plaza de los Tres Poderes, in front of the Congress and the Planalto Palace, seat of government.

The impact on the financial market

The call to demonstrate against the highest court was perceived by the opposition as an attempt to “auto-coup” and increased the reluctance of the financial market towards the Minister of the Economy, Paulo Guedes.

He also divided the influential industrial sector, in particular by the weight of Paulo Skaf, head of the Federation of Industries of the State of Sao Paulo (Fiesp) and ally of Bolsonaro since 2016, which at the time ceded the headquarters of the Fiesp. as the scene of the demonstrations of the right which led to the dismissal of Dilma Rousseff.

This week, the three main private banks, Itaú, Bradesco and Santander, which were preparing a pro-democracy manifesto, were intimidated by the government, which threatened to withdraw Banco do Brasil and Caixa Económica from the banking federation (Febraban ), two public entities.

Vice President Hamilton Mourao, confronted with Bolsonaro, said he defended the manifesto and argued that banks and industry “are the basis of civilization”. Aligned with unofficial neoliberalism, the big business entities are also negotiating a repudiation of the president’s attitude, not the business model.

The union response

Central trade unions, including the CUT, linked to former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s opposition Workers’ Party, called the September 7 demonstration a “coup leader”.

“He can no longer stand, we live on the edge of an institutional crisis. The apparent political incapacity which aims to disrupt the harmony between the powers hides a behavior which seeks to justify unconstitutional exits”, they have warned in a press release.