Amid tensions after the sequence of demonstrations of a coup character by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), US Senator Bernie Sanders presented this Wednesday (7) a proposal to the United States Senate so that the government of Democrat Joe Biden automatically recognize the result of the October elections in Brazil and suspend relations in the event of a coup.
The proposal is for the vote of a “Sense of Senate”, which defines a kind of formal opinion of the House on matters of national interest. If approved, the resolution will define that the Senate’s opinion is that whoever wins the election should be sworn in as president of Brazil.
Despite being presented on September 7, the day Bolsonaro used events from the Bicentennial of Independence to campaign and repeat threats, the presentation of the proposal is not directly related to the events of this Wednesday. Bernie had already announced in August his intention to suggest the motion as soon as the Senate returned from summer recess, which took place on Tuesday (6).
In an interview with Sheet at the end of last month, the congressman avoided direct criticism of the Brazilian president, but stated that “if the result [da eleição] if it unfolds into 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, financial or otherwise”.
On more than one occasion before the current campaign, Bernie criticized Bolsonaro and praised former president Lula (PT), who leads the polls. Now, in an attempt to shield himself, he made a point of saying that his defense of Brazilian democracy in the US Congress is not partisan. “What I’m doing is not for or against Lula, against or for Bolsonaro. I just want to make sure the US never supports an illegal government,” he said.
“Brazil is the fourth largest democracy in the world and the largest country in Latin America, it is essential that democracy continues to exist.”
In a note released this Wednesday celebrating 200 years of Independence, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also reinforced the importance of commitment to democracy.
“As the two largest democracies in the Western Hemisphere, the US and Brazil share a commitment to supporting democracy and demonstrating its benefits to the people,” he said, noting that nations continue to work on deepening their strategic and economic relationship.
“Together, our countries can ensure regional peace and security, advance human rights and racial justice, and build a safe, healthy, sustainable and prosperous future for generations to come.”
The Brazilian 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 at the Summit of the Americas, for example, Bolsonaro repeated that he wanted “clean, credible 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”.
Bernie began to devote more attention to the October election after receiving, in July, a delegation of Brazilian civil society organizations, led by the Washington Brazil Office group, who traveled to the capital to warn American leaders about the risk of democratic rupture in Brazil.
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