“We will not give up until we find out who financed everything that happened in this country,” Lula said Monday evening (local time) after a meeting with representatives of the 26 states and the federal district of Brasilia. There will be no “ceasefire,” Lula added to Globo TV.
Lula previously met with leaders of Congress and the Supreme Court. In a joint statement, “the three branches of the republic, the defenders of democracy and the constitution (…) condemned acts of terrorism, criminal vandalism and coups”.
Arrest warrants in several states
According to Brazil’s Justice Minister Flavio Dino, a number of arrest warrants have already been issued during the ongoing investigation. According to the Estao newspaper, people have been identified in ten states who are suspected of having “economic ties with the organizers of the attempted coup d’état on Sunday in Brasilia”. According to the information, the suspects are said to have financed, among other things, buses that took Bolsonaro’s radical supporters to the capital Brasilia.
According to media reports, the investigations are also focusing on a number of Brazilian companies. O Globo reported that the federal prosecutor’s office already had a list of more than 100 companies. As a next step, the assets of the affected companies could be put on hold, according to O Globo. The funds will be used to pay for damage caused by the storming of government buildings, Congress and the Supreme Court.
camp cleared
The day after the serious incidents, the security forces cleared protest camps in Brasilia and other cities. Around 1,500 people were provisionally arrested in the Brazilian capital alone. According to the Ministry of Justice, a decision should be made after an interrogation as to whether they should be released or taken into custody, Justice Minister Dino said. According to media reports, mothers of small children and older people were released on Tuesday night (local time).
1,500 arrests in Brazil
Investigations are in full swing after Bolsonaro supporters stormed government buildings in Brazil. Around 1,500 people involved are in custody. President Lula da Silva now wants to hold the masterminds accountable.
The tent camp erected in front of the army headquarters served as a base camp for the rioters who raged in the government district for around four hours on Sunday. Soldiers and police officers also cleared similar camps in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Earlier, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes had ordered the security forces to break up camps across the country that supporters of the ex-president had set up in front of army bases.
Thousands are demanding consequences
In Sao Paulo, on Monday evening, thousands of people took to the streets “in defense of democracy” and demanded the “arrest of the putschists”. “These people need to be punished. The people who ordered this must be punished. And those who financed it must be punished,” said 61-year-old Bety Amin. The people who stormed Congress, the Supreme Court and the Presidential Palace in Brasilia would not represent Brazil.
Brazil: Thousands are demanding consequences
A day after supporters of President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the congress in Brasilia, thousands in Sao Paulo called for consequences and tough criminal prosecutions.
Forgoing punishment “could avoid tensions in the short term, but it prolongs instability,” political scientist Luis Felipe Miguel said in a comment. The country should have learned this lesson after the end of the military dictatorship. At that time, it was decided not to hold the military responsible for murders and disappearances accountable.
Bolsonaro continues in the USA
Ex-President Bolsonaro is meanwhile still in the USA and was released on Monday after a short stay in the hospital. According to media reports, shortly after the attack on Brazil’s institutions by his supporters, the former president was treated in a hospital in the city of Orlando, Florida, for severe abdominal pain.
Bolsonaro has been in the United States with his family since the beginning of the year, two days before his term expires. Recently, there have been increasing calls in the USA for Bolsonaro to be deported from his self-imposed exile to Brazil.
White House: No extradition request yet
The United States has not yet received an extradition request against the former head of state. “We have not yet received an official request from the Brazilian government regarding Bolsonaro,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Monday during a visit by US President Joe Biden to Mexico City. “If such a request is made, we will take it seriously.”
