Bolsonaro says Brazil lives “dictatorship that comes by the pens”

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Jair Bolsonaro said today to supporters he understands that Brazil lives a “dictatorship that comes through the pens”.

According to him, the state of exception to which he refers would have “no difference” with the regime “made by guns” and cited the cases of Cuba and Venezuela.

Bolsonaro only said: “you know what happened in Brazil.” And, in a prophetic tone, he declared that “something that will save the country” would be close to happening in the coming days. The speeches took place in the compound of the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia.

“What is the difference between a dictatorship that comes by force of arms, as we see, for example, in Cuba, Venezuela, and other countries, and a dictatorship that comes by the pen? What is the difference? None. So, you know what happened in Brazil. I believe in God. In the coming days, something will happen that will save us in Brazil,” he said.

The head of the Federal Executive will run for reelection in October of this year. According to the polls conducted so far, he would be at a disadvantage in the dispute with former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, convicted for corruption. The two represent antagonistic political segments.

Elected amid the conservative wave of 2018 and with a loyal base in the right-wing, Bolsonaro has sought to repeat successful campaign strategies four years ago.

One of them is precisely trying to remember the Brazilian people about the Workers’ Party’s (PT) corruption (which governed the country between 2003 and 2016), dictatorships in other countries (such as Cuba and Venezuela), and stances that would be contrary to “conservative values” (God, homeland, family, among others).

In 2018, many Brazilians who did not support Bolsonaro still voted for him during the second round of elections to ensure that the Workers’ Party, represented by then-candidate Fernando Haddad, does not stay in power. Many said Haddad was just a puppet and, if elected President, Lula would be the one secretly in charge.

Only four years later, Brazilians have forgotten what it felt like in 2018, and polls now claim Lula himself is the favorite candidate.

For this year’s election, other Powers, especially Justices of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), plan to stand in Bolsonaro’s way, as his victory would mean resistance to their plans.

In Brazil, the supreme Justices are the de facto government. Whatever changes the Bolsonaro government plans that go against the interests of the Justices are regularly overturned by the Supreme Court.

In the president’s view, the Supreme Court’s decisions -such as those of Justice Alexandre de Moraes in the fake news investigation- would go in the opposite direction of “freedom” -in a speech yesterday, Bolsonaro said, for example, that he “did not have any congressman arrested” and “demonetized anyone’s page”.