Jan Rocha's Blog

Have Brazil's armed forces been discredited, again, by their backing for Bolsonaro, his kleptocracy and his attempt to steal the elections?

The Amazon Summit in Belém, Brazil, brought together 8 out of the 9 countries of the Amazon Basin. There were agreements, calls for western countries to share the burden of conserving the forest. But no explicit target on halting deforestation and no willingness to halt oil extraction.

The deliberate killing and starvation of indigenous Yanomami people in Roraima state is the direct result of the policies of the Bolsonaro government. As the new Lula administration rushes emergency aid to the area, calls are being made for Bolsonaro to be tried for genocide.

The Bolsonarist insurrection which invaded the Congress, Supreme Court and Presidential palace in Brazilia, has provoked outrage in Brazil and internationally. While it poses extremely serious problems for President Lula and the new government, the rebels succeeded in presenting themselves as vandals and terrorists.

Lula took office on 2 January, greeted by a sea of enthusiastic supporters who had travelled from all over Brazil. Former president Jair Bolsonaro fled to Miami and the new administration lost no time in undoing some of his most harmful measures

With Bolsonaro AWOL and his supporters claiming electoral fraud, fomenting violence and trying to provoke a military coup, Lula and the PT face massive difficulties and levels of polarisation remain extremely high

Lula's narrow victory in Brazil's second-round presidential election on November 30 raised fears of a coup. Jair Bolsonaro initially declined to recognize the result and waited to see if his supporters would stage an insurrection. Lorry blockades gradually dispersed, however, and the army remained passive. Brazilian democracy looks safe at least for the present.

Brazil's presidential election looks very likely to deliver a first round victory for Lula. Will Bolsonaro, like Trump, attempt to discredit the voting, or work to sabotage the new governmdent.

What is happening in the Amazon is a war -- against the rainforest, its original inhabitants, and also against the rest of the world. Perhaps this is the Third World War, the war to end all wars?

Recalling the famous 1977 Letter for Democracy, the 2022 Carta pela Democracia has gathered more than a million signatures from lawyers, academics, trade unionists, black leaders, business leaders and trades unionists -- all warning against any attempt by Bolsonaro to stage a coup if he should lose the presidential election