Final Act
The call to action in São Paulo led by former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro lacked a clear justification, revealing yet another hidden purpose. On Paulista Avenue, the event (Feb, 25) was more like a rally than a demonstration, outside the legal period and with attacks on the institutions that prosecuted the coup activists.
Although Bolsonaro avoided mentioning these bodies directly, an evangelical pastor who was very suspicious (and doing everything he could to be arrested and become a martyr) helped him in this regard.
However, one thing has been proven: Bolsonaro, who is ineligible, has managed to mobilize a couple of hundred thousand supporters in his quest for a civil and criminal pardon - even after some embarrassing abandonment after January 8 and the resulting lawsuits.
This episode serves as a reminder of Bolsonaro's controversial record, from his days in the military to his work as a congressman and governor, characterized by a lack of initiatives beneficial to the country and links to militias.
The aim of the rally seems to be mainly to accumulate support to avoid Bolsonaro's trial or conviction, possibly by launching a series of other rallies in states governed by his allies.
This represents a real threat to the country's democratic institutions. Bolsonaro's previous words, such as "some 30,000 need to die", "our freedom is more important than our lives" and "Brazil needs a civil war", highlight the seriousness of the situation, indicating a disrespect for the democratic order and a potential for destabilization.
Previous act
The president of the Women's wing of the Liberal Party (Bolsonaro's current wife - it seems) said that in the past it was said that you couldn't mix politics with religion, but stressed that the current period is a "moment of liberation".
And then things got more serious and dangerous for the state. Bolsonaro's wife messianically descended into more coup rhetoric than her husband used in his government:
"For a long time we were negligent, yes, to the point of saying that we couldn't mix politics with religion, and evil took over, evil occupied the space. The time has now come for liberation: 'You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free'. It was the verse he [Bolsonaro] used throughout the campaign, and I believe it was generated in the spiritual world, because I believe in a living God, an all-powerful God who is capable of restoring, of healing our nation. Don't give up, women, men, young people, children, don't give up on our country. Keep praying, keep crying out because I know that our God, from the heavens above, He will grant us help."
It's an extremely dangerous speech and one that will certainly underpin his campaign for the PL, which will never lose the political capital that the captain has unknowingly donated to his wife (much to the dismay of his political children).
The defense of democracy and the secular state cannot abandon the idea of dismantling the image of the sweet and smiling evangelical girl of the future ex-wife, because Bolsonaro will not accept (even at the instigation of his offspring) posing as a scarecrow and losing his political prominence.
SV