The serious political conflict in Brazil has its Argentine chapter. It is not something new, by the way: already during the entire electoral campaign, Kirchnerism made an obvious attempt to equate the followers of Jair Bolsonaro with macrismo. But now, after the insurrection that resulted in the assaults on the buildings of the public powers in Brasilia, this “argentinization” of the Brazilian political situation became more evident.
After the news about the invasion of the Bolsonaro militants to the government palace, parliament and the federal supreme court, and the subsequent decision of Lula Da Silva about the federal intervention in Brasilia, an Argentine classic began: the battle over the political interpretation of what had happened and the race to influence Argentine public opinion.
The most explicit, as always, was Cristina Kirchner, which raised the existence of a conspiracy. He recalled that what happened in Brasilia bears similarities with the storming the capitol in Washington by the Donald Trump supporterswhich happened two years ago.
And after Lula classify the insurgents as “fascist fanatics”Cristina called for “a deep and stark analysis” on the effect generated by hate speech in the media and social networks.
“The essential repudiation or the necessary condemnation is not enough”raised Cristina, who made a parallel to this coup attempt with her own personal situation, recalling that one of the effects of the political fight can lead to attacks on the leaders of progressive forces.
The message between the lines of the Kirchnerist leader is clear, and connects with his self-proclaimed “outlaw” situation after the conviction in the judicial case “Vialidad”. The vice president demanded from the Government and the Peronist militancy a more forceful political response to her judicial setback, before which she followed the initiative of Alberto Fernández to impeach the judges of the Supreme Court of Justice.
But Mauricio Macri did not want any doubts to remain about her eventual neutrality in the face of the situation -which, ultimately, could be interpreted as a gesture of sympathy for the coup plotters- and went out to dispute Cristina’s legitimacy to proclaim solidarity with Lula.
“We must not forget that the Kirchnerism that today is shocked by the events in Brazil is the same that in 2017 organized, promoted and starred in the violent assault on Congress of the Argentine Nation”, wrote Macri on social networks, in a reminder of the violent parliamentary session in which the new pension indexation formula was discussed during his administration.
“Democracy and institutions have to be respected always and everywhere. Because first they will destroy the institutions, then they will destroy freedom and life“Added the opposition leader.
Cristina reinforces the anti “lawfare” discourse
Cristina Kirchner had long drawn a parallel between her judicial situation and the one experienced by President Lula, who went to prison, convicted of corruption in the “Lava Jato” case and later released when the trial was declared void due to poor performance by the judge and prosecutors.
For now, the return of Lula implies for Cristina an international legitimacy for her “lawfare” thesis. For Kirchnerism, this is the essential detail: Lula presented himself in his speech as a pledge of peace and national unity, as a person who had suffered persecution and still did not return with a revengeful spirit, but rather as a pacifier of a country that suffered a violent crack.
The analogy between Cristina’s judicial and political situation with Lula has been a constant since the PT leader won the election in the neighboring country. The unprecedented interest and the consequent media coverage that was carried out on that election was encouraged by this parallelism: Lula claimed vindication while the Judge Sergio Moro he fell into disrepute, after having been celebrated as a national hero, having been Minister of Justice and even a presidential candidate.
And one of the determining elements for Lula’s release was the leak of Telegram messages between judge Moro and the prosecutor of the “Lava Jato” case. There it became clear that, far from being impartial and nonpartisan, the public ministry had acted with political criteria and had not considered facts that favored Lula’s defense.
That is why, among the many messages of solidarity that Cristina received after the conviction, the most celebrated was precisely that of the Brazilian president: “My solidarity with the Vice President of Argentina, Cristina Kirchner. I saw her statement that is a victim of lawfare and we know well here in Brazil how much this practice can cause damage to democracy. I wish for impartial and independent justice for all and for the people of Argentina.”.
Cristina Kirchner tries to establish a connection between Lula’s situation and his “proscription” in the framework of the Roads case
Now, Cristina’s strategy is take advantage of impeachment against the Supreme Court to install the new mantra of Kirchnerism: “The lawfare is against you.” The argument is that, far from being an issue that only affects political leaders, the politicization of justice affects workers.
Cristina herself gave examples in this regard -such as the annulment of the decree that declared Internet connection a “public service” and, therefore, would regulate its rates- and struggles to establish a connection between the judges of the Court and the “powers business concentrates. She was graphic in this sense when stating what is, in her understanding, the true final objective of the “lawfare” tool.
“The TACTICS: the armed causes, the convictions and the proscriptions. The STRATEGY points to the great and true objective, to fill with twine the balance sheets of the corporations that control the cost of your food, your services, your medicines and your rent. In other words, … The imposition of economic policies and decisions on the daily life of millions of Argentines by means other than votes”he wrote last week on his social networks.
The climate of Lula’s visit changes
The truth is that the situation in Brazil is giving Cristina an opportunity to revitalize his preaching against “lawfare”after the difficulties she encountered at the end of the year, when the euphoria for the World Cup victory led her to twice suspend the meeting of the Puebla group in which leaders of the region would raise their solidarity with the “ban” of the Kirchnerist leader .
For now, Lula confirmed its presence in Buenos Aires for January 23, when he will arrive to meet with Alberto Fernández before the CELAC meeting. It is certain that, after what happened in Brasilia on Sunday, the climate in which this meeting is held will change drastically: it will go from being a regional diplomacy meeting with the formal overtones of the occasion, to being a forum of support for democracies. and support for coup attempts.
The Argentine president was among the first to express their solidarity. “Let us firmly and unitely demonstrate our total adherence to the government democratically elected by the Brazilians headed by President Lula. We are together with the Brazilian people to defend democracy and never again allow the return of the coup ghosts promoted by the right,” Alberto wrote. Fernández shortly after 5:00 p.m., when the images of hundreds of people invading the Brazilian Congress multiplied through social networks.
Leaders of the region and great powers, including American Joe Bidencoincided in rejecting the insurrection.
And, meanwhile, the current debate among political analysts is what is the deep meaning of what happened. Is it just a group of radicalized militants with no political support who, ultimately, do not imply a risk for democracy? Or is what we have seen just the tip of the iceberg of discomfort in the Brazilian armed forces, who view these incidents sympathetically?
Lula and Aberto Fernández will meet again in Buenos Aires on January 23, in a meeting whose climate will be marked by the attempted coup
In Argentina, the sector close to Cristina has no doubts in his diagnosis of a conspiracy. He considers that what happened is a message with the objective of conditioning Lula’s administration and that it represents a challenge for the governability of the neighboring country.
Cristina’s insistence that there are always financiers, instigators and intellectual authors who have political objectives behind these incidents draws, once again, the parallelism of the Brazilian situation with the one she herself describes for the Argentine political scene.
The discomfort in the PRO
Meanwhile, the Brazilian situation also exposed the existing differences in the opposition force Together for Change. so while Horacio Rodriguez Larreta issued a message of repudiation of the attempted coup, Patricia Bullrich he limited himself to criticizing Alberto Fernández, which left a note of suspicion regarding his position on the Brazilian situation.
The truth is that it was inevitable, at least in the first hours after the Brazilian crisis, to perceive discomfort and difficulty articulating a single speech in the opposition coalition, in which there are leaders who had not hidden their sympathy for Jair Bolsonaro during the election campaign.
Bullrich’s first communication was ambiguous: “Democrats with other countries and authoritarians here,” he titled his message, alluding to the tweet that the President had published earlier.
“Here, they want to take over the Supreme Court of Justice and they destroy Congress with 14 tons of stones. The day the request for impeachment is withdrawn from the Court, they can comment on what is happening in Brazil,” added the PRO candidate.
was just around 9:00 p.m. Macri’s publication arrivedwhich finished rounding off an explicit declaration of the opposition’s repudiation of the Brazilian situation.
In any case, the debate is just beginning: the interpretation of what is happening in Brazil and who is to blame for the coup conspiracy have already become part of the agenda of the Argentine political rift.
