The United States must suspend partnerships and not provide any financial or military aid to Brazil if there is a democratic breakdown after the October election. This is what Senator Bernie Sanders defends, who will present a bill to the US Congress to ensure that Washington immediately recognizes the winner of the election in Brazil.
One of the stars of the American left, Bernie, 80, says in an interview with Sheet that his idea is not to interfere in the electoral process, but to ensure that the US “does whatever it can” so that Brazil does not find support in the event of a coup.
“The people of Brazil will have to decide who will be the next president. It is the decision of the Brazilian people, not the US or anyone else,” he says. “But if the outcome turns out to be something illegal, if there is a military coup that puts an illegal government in place, the US has to make that very clear: Brazil will not have support, financially or otherwise.”
Bernie began to devote more attention to the October election after receiving, in July, a delegation of Brazilian civil society entities, led by the Washington Brazil Office group, which traveled to the capital to warn American leaders about coup demonstrations by President Jair Bolsonaro (PL ).
The president has placed as a condition for accepting an eventual defeat the guarantee that the elections will be transparent – which the Superior Electoral Court and observer bodies say is already happening. When he met with Joe Biden, for example, Bolsonaro repeated that he wanted “clean, reliable and auditable elections”. At the time, the American replied, according to the State Department, that “the US does not tolerate and does not accept intervention in the electoral system anywhere”.
On more than one occasion before the current campaign, Bernie criticized Bolsonaro and praised former president Lula (PT), who leads the polls for the election. Now, in an attempt to shield himself, he insists on saying that his defense of Brazilian democracy in the US Congress is not partisan.
“I don’t want to get involved,” he says, repeating that Brazilian voters have to decide. “What I’m doing is not for or against Lula, against or in favor of Bolsonaro. I just want to ensure that the US never supports an illegal government.”
The congressman wants to put on the Senate agenda a resolution in defense of Brazilian democracy as soon as Congress returns from its summer recess, at the beginning of September. “Brazil is the fourth largest democracy in the world and the largest country in Latin America, it is essential that democracy continues to exist.”
The fear in the corridors of the left wing in Parliament and in sectors linked to diplomacy in Washington is that Brasília will record scenes similar to those in the American capital on January 6, 2021, when a crowd of supporters of then-President Donald Trump, inflated by the president, stormed the Capitol to try to stop Biden’s certification of victory.
Bolsonaro has been following Trump’s script of discrediting the electoral system, and this is what raises the alarm in the US. That’s because, even if he is defeated in October, the president must remain relevant in the political chess – as well as the American ally, who still has strong influence over the Republican Party and aims to be a candidate again in 2024.
The former president is accused of helping to radicalize part of his supporters, and episodes of politically motivated attacks have increased in the US – even more so after the siege of justice around the Republican grows, on two fronts of investigations.
According to Bernie, to prevent Brazil from following the same path, “it is important that political leaders, on all sides, make it clear that they will not tolerate violence.” The country has already recorded episodes of political violence in the electoral process.
Identified with the most left wing of Biden’s base, the senator says it is understandable that a portion of the population disbelieves in the importance of democracy as governments fail to respond to their needs.
“The working class has seen a significant decline in their standard of living. They can no longer afford housing, education for their children, health care. And as they struggle, they see billionaires getting richer and they ask themselves, ‘Do I need to? of a government? Do I need democracy if I continue to struggle while they get richer and richer?'” he says. “It is necessary for the government to respond to the desires of the low-income population, not only to the interests of billionaires.”
If elected, Lula will be part of a new wave of left-wing leaders in Latin America, with Gustavo Petro in Colombia and Gabriel Boric in Chile as the most recent exponents.
Asked about the chances of this tide reaching Washington, Bernie – who has twice tried to run for president for the Democratic Party, without success – says that electoral victories are the result of “good politics and good public policies”, in a play on words. in English “politics” and “policy”.
“The candidate who defends the working class, access to health care, the reduction of inequalities, the creation of jobs with decent wages, the construction of housing, access to education and knows how to resist the powerful interests of large corporations, is not only doing the right thing, as he is doing good politics and will win”, he says. “This is the candidate who will be elected.”
