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Brazil: the grip tightens on the rioters, Lula worried for his safety

The Brazilian government was tightening its grip on the participants, organizers and financiers of Sunday’s riots in Brasilia, which prompted Lula to “profoundly overhaul” his security at the presidential palace. “I am convinced that the door of the Planalto building has been opened for people to enter, because no door has been broken down,” the left-wing leader said on Thursday during his first breakfast with reporters since he took office on 1 January. “It means that someone has made it easier for them to enter here,” insisted Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. “How could I have someone at my office door who could shoot me?” he asked. More than 4,000 supporters of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro, who reject his late October electoral defeat to Lula, devastated the capital on Sunday, invading and looting the Presidential Palace, Supreme Court and Congress. About 2,000 people have been arrested and more than 1,100 have been jailed after questioning, according to the latest report from the authorities. Geraldo Monteiro, co-author of a book on Bolsonarismo. And the noose continues to tighten, many rioters are identified thanks to surveillance cameras, press images or selfies posted on social networks. But now the priority of the authorities is to sanction the networks that have been working behind the scenes to finance and organize the insurrection euro damages -The Office of the Advocate General of the Union (AGU), which defends the interests of the federal state, on Thursday asked the courts of Brasilia to freeze 6.5 million reais (about 1.2 million euros) of 52 people and seven companies accused of having financed the transport of rioters on a hundred buses arriving on Saturday evening from all over the country. According to various Brazilian media, a large number of alleged financiers are linked to the agri-food sector, loyal supporters of Jair Bolsonaro. the national heritage suffered considerable damage, the offices were looted and the works of art destroyed. of Historic and Artistic Heritage presented an initial damage assessment report on Thursday, citing in particular a urine-soaked carpet and a tapestry by Brazilian artist R. Oberto Burle Marx. “From now on we will be tougher, because what happened (this) weekend must not repeat itself”, said Lula, also announcing “a reshuffle” of the workforce on behalf of the presidency. “The building was full of pro-Bolsonaro, military,” he said, intending to replace them with “career public officials, preferably civilians.” Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Tuesday ordered the arrests of Fabio Augusto, commander of Brasilia’s military police, and Anderson Torres, the far-right leader’s former justice minister and security secretary of the capital at the time of the unrest . Torres is expected to arrive in Brazil on Friday from the United States. The evidence against him should increase, as the police found at his home a proposed decree aimed at intervening in the Superior Electoral Court and thus overturning the result of the presidential elections in October. M. Torres said the minutes were published “out of context” and pleaded not guilty to these documents. Lula stepped up meetings with his ministers on Thursday, in an evident desire to return to normal after clashing with this unprecedented attack to Brazilian democracy since the establishment of the military dictatorship (1964-1985). In the United States, the elected Democrats have asked President Joe Biden to revoke the visa of the former Brazilian president, who is in Florida (south), refusing that the States United act as a refuge for the former leader. “We must not allow Bolsonaro or any other former Brazilian official to find refuge in the United States to ‘escape justice for every possible crime committed during his tenure,’ these 41 elected officials write in a Thursday open letter to the President Biden, also inviting the American government to “cooperate fully with any investigation by the Brazilian government” and to verify the legal status in the United States of the former president, who arrived on American territory as head of state. His stay in Florida places the United States United in a relatively awkward light, notably evoking previous receptions from controversial Latin American leaders.When questioned on Wednesday, US diplomacy chief Antony Blinken said the US had not received any requests from Brazil on Jair Bolsonaro, but he would process such requests “quickly”.jnd