Live updates: Lula promises prosecution in aftermath of Brazil capital insurrection
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Aerial video shows Bolsonaro supporters invading capital
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In the wake of the assault Sunday on Brazil’s National Congress, Supreme Federal Court and presidential office by supporters of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva promised to bring the rioters to justice as he toured the destruction.
The president arrived in the capital, Brasília, from São Paulo and walked by the shattered windows and ripped artwork in the presidential palace and was then taken by two justices to see the destruction at the Supreme Court, according to the local television station Globo.
“The terrorists who promote the destruction of public spaces in Brasília are being identified and punished. Tomorrow we will resume work at the Presidential Palace. Democracy forever. Good night,” he tweeted.
11:43 AM: Photos: Fans in Florida try to catch another glimpse of Bolsonaro
As they have been doing for several days, supporters of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro on Monday stood outside the Florida vacation home where he has been staying. Bolsonaro’s security detail outside the home told them to return Tuesday for a sighting.
Over the past week, there have been joyous scenes of Bolsonaro coming out of the house in Kissimmee several times a day to take pictures with supporters and, in some cases, sign the shirts on their backs.
By: Thomas Simonetti
11:16 AM: Brazil’s soccer confederation denounces use of yellow jersey by insurrectionists
The Brazilian Football Confederation, which administers Brazil’s national soccer team, has issued a statement denouncing the insurrection and rioters who wore the country’s trademark yellow jersey while storming the capital.
Brazil’s national soccer jersey “is a symbol of the joy of our people,” the confederation said in a statement Monday on Twitter, emphasizing that the soccer governing body was “a nonpartisan and democratic entity.”
The confederation “vehemently” condemned the jersey’s use while committing “anti-democratic acts and vandalism,” it said.
In recent weeks bolsonaristas have been wearing the jersey of the much-beloved national soccer team as a sign of support for the ex-president. Yellow-clad insurrectionists are now among the defining images of Sunday’s violent attack.
By: Miriam Berger
10:57 AM: Vice President Harris to swear in new U.S. ambassador to Brazil
Vice President Harris is scheduled Monday to ceremonially swear in Elizabeth Bagley as the new U.S. ambassador to Brazil — an event that follows the assault Sunday on Brazil’s National Congress, Supreme Federal Court and presidential office by supporters of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro.
Bagley is a longtime Democratic donor who served as ambassador to Portugal under President Bill Clinton.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is promising to bring the rioters to justice. Thousands of Bolsonaro’s radical supporters stormed and vandalized the country’s institutions before security forces regained control.
The attack has drawn numerous comparisons to the one on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump — Bolsonaro’s political role model — on Jan. 6, 2021.
By: John Wagner
10:52 AM: Biden, López Obrador and Trudeau issue statement condemning attack in Brazil
President Biden joined Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a joint statement Monday condemning the attacks on Brazil’s government.
“Canada, Mexico, and the United States condemn the January 8 attacks on Brazil’s democracy and on the peaceful transfer of power,” the statement said. “We stand with Brazil as it safeguards its democratic institutions. Our governments support the free will of the people of Brazil. We look forward to working with President Lula on delivering for our countries, the Western Hemisphere, and beyond.”
Biden, López Obrador and Trudeau are preparing to meet Tuesday in Mexico City.
On Sunday, supporters of far-right former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro launched an assault on Brazil’s National Congress, Supreme Federal Court and presidential office.
The attack has drawn numerous comparisons to the one on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump — Bolsonaro’s political role model — on Jan. 6, 2021.
By: John Wagner
10:25 AM: Lula, Brazilian leaders condemn rioters’ ‘acts of terrorism,’ urge calm
‘These people will be punished,’ Lula says
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Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the heads of the other branches of Brazil’s government met in the capital, Brasília, on Monday and issued a joint statement condemning the “acts of terrorism” committed by those who stormed and vandalized the country’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential office building on Sunday.
“The powers of the Republic, defenders of democracy and of the Constitution of 1988, reject the acts of terrorism, vandalism, crime and the attempted coup that happened yesterday afternoon in Brasília. We are united to take institutional action, according to Brazilian law,” said the statement, which was signed Monday morning by Lula, along with Veneziano Vital do Rêgo, acting president of the Brazilian Senate; Arthur Lira, president of the Chamber of Deputies; and Supreme Court President Rosa Maria Pires Weber.
The leaders urged people to keep calm “in defense of peace and democracy in our nation.”
“The country needs normality, respect and work to achieve progress and social justice,” they added.
By: Annabelle Timsit and Júlia Ledur
10:23 AM: Photos: The cleanup scene at the presidential palace in Brasilia
Employees at the Brazilian presidential palace in Brasilia cleaned up the grounds on Monday, the day after it was attacked by Bolsonaro supporters.
By: Chloe Coleman
9:57 AM: Live stream shows presidential office building damaged
Video shows Brazil’s ransacked presidential palace
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In a video live-streamed late Sunday from within what was identified as Brasília’s Planalto presidential palace, Aliel Machado, a member of Brazil’s congressional lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, showed the empty building damaged, with pictures strewn on the floor, glass windows smashed and separation cordons overturned.
Machado, who described Sunday’s insurrection as a “coup attempt,” appeared visibly shaken as he recorded his walk around the federal building.
“This is the damage caused to public property, in the Chamber of Deputies, in the Senate, in the Palacio do Planalto and in the Supreme Court,” Machado said while sharing images from inside the damaged building.
“We need all Brazilians, regardless of political standing, to defend our democracy,” he said, and he called for those responsible to be held accountable for any criminal acts. “This is not property of a party or a president. This is property of the Brazilian nation. At this moment, what we need is to defend the institutions and the democratic state.”
By: Leo Sands and Júlia Ledur
9:52 AM: Photos: Military dismantles protesters’ camp after insurrection
BRASÍLIA — Military police from the Federal District of Brasília and army forces moved Monday to clear Bolsonaristas — as supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro are known — from a camp that has been in front of military headquarters for nearly 70 days. Police acted on the orders of Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
According to the Ministry of Justice, about 1,200 Bolsonaristas were taken to the Federal Police in 40 buses provided by the government of the Federal District. The operation was decided on late Sunday in a meeting with Defense Minister José Múcio, Justice and Public Security Minister Flávio Dino and the commander of the army, Júlio César Arruda.
The police had given members of the group about an hour to collect their belongings and leave the camp. Photos from Brasília showed officers clearing out tents and protesters leaving, on their own or with law enforcement, with their belongings in tow.
The group had been there ever since Bolsonaro failed to secure a second term in an October runoff election whose result some of his supporters refuse to accept.
By: Anthony Faiola and Annabelle Timsit
9:34 AM: House Democrats challenge Bolsonaro’s status in Florida
Several Democrats are questioning why Jair Bolsonaro has been allowed to stay in Florida, after the former Brazilian president flew there shortly before the end of his term in December. “The US must cease granting refuge to Bolsonaro in Florida,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted Sunday, calling for Washington to “stand in solidarity” with Brazil’s new leader, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
“Bolsonaro must not be given refuge in Florida, where he’s been hiding from accountability for his crimes,” Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Tex.) said. “He should be extradited to Brazil,” Castro told CNN.
It’s not clear what Bolsonaro’s visa status is, though two unnamed current and former U.S. officials told Reuters he probably entered the United States on an A-1 visa, reserved for diplomats and foreign government officials, including heads of state.
Though the visa is typically canceled after a head of state’s term of office ends, one official told Reuters that Bolsonaro could stay on an A-1 visa indefinitely if it is not revoked or canceled. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Monday.
By: Annabelle Timsit
9:12 AM: Assault on presidential palace, Congress challenges Brazil’s democracy
Bolsonaro backers break into government buildings
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BRASÍLIA — Thousands of radical backers of far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro breached and vandalized Brazil’s presidential office building, Congress and Supreme Court on Sunday in scenes that hauntingly evoked the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump.
The attack — the most significant threat to democracy in Latin America’s largest nation since a 1964 military coup — came a week after the inauguration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to succeed Bolsonaro. It suggested a spreading plague of far-right disrupters in Western democracies, as hard-liners radicalized by incendiary political rhetoric refuse to accept election losses, cling to unfounded claims of fraud and undermine the rule of law.
Bolsonaristas occupied the National Congress building, many of them sitting or lying on the ground. A flag placed in front of the building read “intervention” — a reference to calls for the military to depose Lula, who defeated Bolsonaro in October.
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By: Anthony Faiola and Marina Dias
8:56 AM: ‘Terrorists’ condemned by state governors, who hope to meet with Lula
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government summoned governors from across Brazil for a special meeting in the wake of the attack, according to local media, as protests in four states blocked highways.
Fátima Bezerra, governor of Rio Grande do Norte state, said the nation’s governors met virtually late Sunday where they condemned the “terrorists,” adding in a tweet she hoped the group would meet with Lula and federal ministers at 6 p.m. local time on Monday.
By: Leo Sands
8:37 AM: World leaders condemn attack, express support for Lula
In the wake of Sunday’s attack, world leaders expressed their support for Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and condemned the riots as an attack on democracy.
President Alberto Fernández of Argentina said he and his country have “unconditional support” for Lula “in the face of this coup attempt that he is facing.” He added that people who “disregard the will of the majority” are a threat to democracy and deserve not only prosecution but “the absolute rejection of the international community.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said the will of the Brazilian people and democratic institutions “must be respected!” He added that Lula could rely on France’s “unwavering support.”
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said the “assault on democracy” was “a major concern to all of us, the defenders of democracy.”
President Biden said: “Brazil’s democratic institutions have our full support and the will of the Brazilian people must not be undermined.”
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak condemned “any attempt to undermine the peaceful transfer of power and the democratic will of the people of Brazil.”
Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister of Spain, said Lula and Brazil’s democratic institutions have his full support, and he called for “an immediate return to democratic normality.”
By: Bryan Pietsch
8:36 AM: Brasília governor suspended, accused of abetting riots
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the immediate suspension of the governor of Brasília for 90 days, accusing him and the district’s head of public security of abetting the unprecedented attack on the country’s capital.
“Absolutely NOTHING justifies the secretary of public security and the governor of the federal district’s omission and coexistence with criminals who had previously announced they would conduct violent acts against constitutional powers,” he wrote in his decision.
According to Moraes, federal district police authorized the entrance of more than 100 buses of Bolsonaro supporters into the capital with no police escort, despite knowing the groups were notorious for anti-democratic and violent acts. Moraes prohibited all buses and trucks carrying protesters from entering the capital until the end of the month.
Brasilia’s suspended governor Ibaneis Rocha apologized to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in a video address earlier on Sunday.
“First, I’d like to address president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to apologize for what happened today in our city,” he said, before calling the invasions unacceptable.
“We did not think the protests would gain the momentum they did,” he said.
By: Marina Lopes