Brazilian politics was the subject of a heated discussion in the Portuguese Parliament this Friday (13), during the debate of a vote condemning the coup attacks perpetrated against the headquarters of the Three Powers by supporters of Jair Bolsonaro, in Brasília, in the last Sunday (8).
Leader of the ultra-right party Chega and a declared supporter of the former Brazilian president, deputy André Ventura asked for the floor in the session and gave a speech calling the current chief executive, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), a bandit. The statement provoked boos and shouts of rejection from dozens of parliamentarians.
“We perfectly understand the fury and anguish of millions of Brazilians when they see their country governed, and I apologize to the Brazilian authorities accredited in Portugal, by a bandit”, said the politician, who even recorded a video in support of Bolsonaro on the 2022 election campaign.
The speech also led to an immediate reprimand from the President of Parliament, who was also the author of the proposal to condemn the acts in the Brazilian capital. “This is an offensive expression in relation to the president of a country that is very friendly to Portugal”, said Augusto Santos Silva, stating that he felt obliged by the House regiment to ask that Ventura not refer to the leader of Brazil in that way —”or to the of any other republic”.
Upon resuming the speech, the ultra-rightist heeded the warning, but soon retorted —”It is difficult to address the president of Brazil in any other way”— and mentioned understanding the Bolsonarists who formed camps in front of Army barracks since the confirmation of the result of the election. These groups called for military intervention, among other anti-democratic demands.
In the midst of sympathetic words to the coup leaders, Ventura pointed out that he was one of the first party leaders in Portugal to condemn “the attack on institutions and violence” in Brasília, stressing that “democracy is the way to fight”.
Third place in the 2021 presidential elections and known for discriminatory speeches, the deputy ended up accusing the president of the Portuguese Parliament of “ideological blindness”, for not also condemning what he called “communist violence” in Latin America — in a probable reference to dictatorships of left in the region.
In the sequence, representatives of other parties who spoke widely condemning the coup attacks in Brasília, took the opportunity to criticize the position of the leader of Chega. “It is with a firm voice that we condemn what happened in Brazil”, said the deputy leader of the Socialist Party bench, Pedro Delgado Alves, who amended attacks on Ventura’s speech. “[É descabido] say that he understands the reasons of those who climb the ramp of the Palácio do Planalto to invade Brazilian institutions, ignoring the rule of law, the results of the elections and the way in which differences and dilemmas are resolved in democracy.”
The socialist also criticized Bolsonaro, recalling the politician’s attacks on democracy. “What was demonstrated was the robustness of Brazilian institutions, which showed that neither a corporal nor a soldier nor even a mob of barbarians are enough to close the Federal Supreme Court,” he said, referring to a speech by federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL -SP), son of the former president, in 2018.
Representative of the Left Bloc bench, deputy Joana Mortágua highlighted that “it was a pain and a tragedy to see extremist Bolsonarists invade the Planalto Palace”, drawing parallels between the script of the attack and the invasion of the US Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump in January 2021.
Inês Sousa, leader of PAN (People-Animals-Natureza), stressed that the violence even reached “animals belonging to the security forces”, in reference to the images of scammers attacking a police officer. “Whoever is on the democratic spectrum can only have one position: repudiation and censorship of the destruction carried out in Brazil.”
Despite the heightened spirits, which led the President of Parliament to intervene more than once, the condemnation of the attacks in Brasília was unanimously approved —including, therefore, with André Ventura’s Chega votes.
The text of the resolution expresses “deep solidarity with all the institutions affected and expresses its unequivocal support to the Brazilian authorities in restoring order and legality, underlining the need to defend and safeguard the full functioning of democratic institutions and reaffirming the fraternal ties that unite the Portuguese and Brazilian peoples”.
The Portuguese government, headed by Socialist Prime Minister António Costa, has shown public support for Lula. The petista passed through Lisbon in November, still as president-elect, and spoke about the desire to strengthen relations with the European country; President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa honored the PT’s inauguration. While in office, Bolsonaro did not make official visits to Portugal.
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