Attempted far-right Brazil riot

The Brazilian government has asked to investigate the former President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro, for an alleged riot attempt.

Jair Bolsonaro is a "deranged man" who "after losing the elections locked himself at home" and stopped governing: Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva declared about the right-wing leader, whom he narrowly defeated in the ballot held in October. "This is the first

time in the history of Brazil that an elected president begins to govern before taking office," added Lula, speaking of himself, but then assured that he did not want to "prosecute" Bolsonaro during his government. "My mandate is different, I will not fight Bolsonaro because my job is to fight hunger," concluded Lula.

Bolsonaro’s ally has vowed to fly home to Brazil and on Friday evening CNN Brazil reported that federal police were making plans to arrest him at passport control once he landed back in the South American country, and here’s why:

Investigators received information that the draft of the decree that provided for an intervention in the Electoral Justice was sent by cell phone messages to Bolsonaro's advisors, and would have circulated among members of the re-election committee. The information was considered vital in the investigations into the actions of former Public Security Secretary of the Federal District, Anderson Torres, who was due to testify to the Federal Police on January 23rd. The proposed decree, drawn up after Bolsonaro's narrow defeat of President Lula, would have established an emergency "state of defence" for the national electoral authority, the superior electoral tribunal, opening the door to an alteration of the result.

The so-called draft of the riot was seized at the residence of Bolsonaro’s former Minister of Justice and was seen by President Lula’s partners as proof that Bolsonaro did consider carrying out a riot and reversing the results of the elections.

Anderson Torres’ lawyers rehearsed a version that the draft of the decree was delivered to the former Minister of Justice anonymously. Nonetheless, some information in the document indicates that it was prepared by someone who was closely following the case.

In an excerpt, the possibility of whether to include representatives of the OAS (Organisation of American States) in the commission that would intervene in the Superior Electoral Court was discussed. In addition, the text mentions the date of President Lula’s diplomacy on December 12, previously scheduled to take place on December 19, but which was brought forward to the end of November.

President Lula has stated that "this is the first time in the history of Brazil that an elected president begins to govern before taking office," speaking of himself, but then assured that he did not want to "prosecute" Bolsonaro during his government. "My mandate is different, I will not fight Bolsonaro because my job is to fight hunger," concluded Lula.

He also added that many members of the police and armed forces are accomplices of the radical pro-Bolsonaro supporters who stormed the presidential, congress, and Supreme Court buildings on Sunday. The president said he has not yet spoken to his collaborators

about his suspicions because he expects the situation to calm down a bit, but that he is convinced that the doors have been opened to the protagonists of Sunday's anti-democratic acts. "I am convinced that the door of Palazzo Planalto has been opened to let these people in because there is no broken door. In other words, someone has facilitated their entry here."

“Former Minister of Justice Anderson Torres, currently under arrest in relation to the violence of that day, was responsible for security in the capital,” adds Lula: and "he knew what was going to happen".

Lula explains that he does not know if the former right-wing president Bolsonaro, who was on vacation in Miami at the time, "ordered" the attack: but he says he is responsible because "he spent four years lying to Brazilian society, insisting that the people must be armed". "We don't guarantee democracy with weapons, we guarantee it with culture, with books, with debate, with education, with food, with work", underlines Lula da Silva.

Further investigations are still ongoing, what can be certain is that the Supreme Court judge, Alexandre de Moraes, ordered Torres' arrest stating that Torres fired subordinates and fled the country before the uprising, indicating he was deliberately laying the groundwork for the unrest.

The court also issued an arrest warrant for the former security chief, who must return to the country or Brazil will request his extradition. The former Governor of the Federal District and the former Chief of the Military Police are also under investigation by the Supreme Court. Both were removed from their positions after the uprising.