World leaders warn of “coup fears” on September 7 in Brazil | “An insurgency will endanger democracy”, warn more than 100 signatories

Former presidents, academics and world leaders have warned that September 7, 2021 “an insurgency will endanger democracy in Brazil”. Among more than 100 signatures, the open letter is supported by the Nobel Peace Prize Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, the American linguist Noam chomsky, the former President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, and the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, Celso Amorim. On Tuesday, Brazil’s Independence Day, supporters of President Jair Bolsonaro are expected to demonstrate in cities like Brasilia and São Paulo against Supreme Court justices, one of the main targets of criticism of the president. Bolsonaro himself said a few days ago that in this convocation “the people” will give “an ultimatum to those who defy the Constitution”.

“Fear of a sudden”

“Even now, President Jair Bolsonaro and his allies -including white supremacist groups, military police and officials at all levels of government- are preparing a national march against the Supreme Court and Congress September 7 heighten fears of a coup in the third largest democracy in the world ”, warns the letter which recalls that in recent weeks the far-right president has intensified his attacks against democratic institutions.

On August 10, Bolsonaro led an unprecedented military parade through Brasilia and his allies in Congress pushed for sweeping reforms to the country’s electoral system, considered one of the most reliable in the world. The president has repeatedly threatened to annul the 2022 presidential elections if Congress does not approve of these reforms, an attitude that looks like a stifling slap in the face when former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva climbs in the polls.

“Bolsonaro summons his supporters to go to Brasilia on September 7 in an act of intimidation of the country’s democratic institutions,” the document notes. According to a message shared by the president on August 21, the march will prepare his government for a “necessary backlash” against Congress and the Supreme Court. On this occasion, Bolsonaro added that Brazil’s “Communist Constitution” had taken away his power, once again accusing “justice, the left and a whole apparatus of hidden interests” of conspiring against him.

The antecedent with Trump

The letter from world leaders recalls that Brazilian MPs have warned that Tuesday’s mobilization “was modeled on the insurgency in the US capital on January 6, 2021”, when then-President Donald Trump incited his supporters to protest by brandishing false allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

The document underlines its concern over the “imminent threat to democratic institutions” and adds: “The Brazilian people have fought for decades to secure democracy against military rule. We must not allow Bolsonaro to take it away from them now.”.

During a ceremony inside the state of Bahia, Friday Bolsonaro reiterated his criticism of “one or two”, with clear reference to members of the Supreme Court that he has accused for weeks of “using his power” to try “to give another direction to the country”. Although he did not name them, he referred to magistrates Alexandre de Moraes and Luis Barroso, with whom he alienated as part of a serious institutional conflict fueled by far-right groups supporting the government.

Barroso, in addition to being a member of the Supreme Court, presides over the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) which Bolsonaro claims, without evidence, is preparing a “fraud” for the 2022 elections and that he will use electronic voting. a system that the country adopted for this in 1996 and whose transparency is widely recognized. De Moraes, for his part, is responsible for a process of mass dissemination of fake news and attacks on democratic institutions via the internet, in which the president himself and dozens of far-right activists are making the call. under investigation.

Although Bolsonaro insists that the September 7 protests will be for “freedom” and “conservative values,” some groups that summon them call for a “military intervention” that shuts down Parliament and the Supreme Court and keeps the leader in power. The appeal was rejected by Congress and the Supreme Court itself, and condemned by business organizations, banks, unions and more moderate right-wing political parties, which in recent days have issued two separate manifestos in favor of democracy and against any form of “adventure”.

The main companies

Severe proclamation against attempted coup in Brazil bears signature of former presidents of Ecuador Rafael Correa; from Paraguay, Fernando Lugo placeholder image; Columbia, Ernesto Samper and Spain, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. The senators of Colombia also accompany Iván Cepeda and Gustavo Petro; and Argentina Omar Plaini, Marita Perceval, Nora Del Valle Giménez and Nanci Parrilli.

MPs join Eduardo Valdes, Victoria Donda, Fernanda Vallejos, Guillermo Carmona, Eric Calcagno, José Roselli, Monica Macha, Cristina Alvarez Rodríguez, Lia Veronica Caliva, Héctor Fernández, Juan Carlos Alderete and Carolina Yutrovic; Columbia Maria José Pizarro; and from France Jean-Luc Mélenchon. For Parlasur, the vice-president signed from Argentina Oscar Laborde and the deputies Gastón Harispe, Julio Sotelo, Cristian Bello, Carlos López, Ricardo Oviedo and Cecilia Britto.

The economist and Greek MP also expressed their support Yanis Varoufakis; former Brazilian foreign ministers, Celso Amorim; from Ecuador Guillaume Long and from Chile José Miguel Insulza; the former Argentine Ambassador to Venezuela and the United Kingdom Alicia castro.

Likewise, the former presidential candidate and former Minister Coordinator of Knowledge and Human Talent of Ecuador, Andres Arauz; the general secretary of the Central of Workers of Argentina, Hugo Yasky; and the Secretary of International Relations of the Evita Movement, Alejandro Rusconi, among more than 100 signatories.