Reinaldo Azevedo We had madmen, beatings, swindlers and fools; As despicable as “legend”, never! 28.12.2022 16:49

Jair Bolsonaro will star in unprecedented embarrassment by pursuing political lovemaking with another defeated putschist, Donald Trump, even if he leaves the country in an air of escapism before his term expires. Brazil, but not for Brazil. As a matter of fact, democracy is winning even if everything is reset and we all need to try to strengthen it. Cowardice is all his own. We had everything in the Republic: coup, resignation, suicide, dismissal, death during the mandate… Someone who fled the country without at least the courtesy to resign? Oh that never! It will indeed be courtesy of Jair.

You’ve probably read that the “Myth” is the 38th president of Brazil – Lula would become the 39th president. This account is completely confused. For example, five intermediate players are counted: José Linhares (29/10/45 – 31/01/46); by Carlos Luz (11/8/55 – 11/11/55); Nereu Ramos (11/11/55 – 31/01/56) and Ranieri Mazzilli twice: 25/08/61 – 7/09/61 and 2/04/64 – 15/04/64. What’s more: Leaders who have had two consecutive terms are counted only once: Getúlio Vargas (from 30 to 45), FHC (from 1995 to 2002), Lula (2003 to 2010) and Dilma Rousseff (from 2011) to 2016). From 51 to 54, Getúlio appears for the second time and Lula will definitely be considered 39th.

Lula will remain as it is: he will be among the 31 Brazilians who will actually hold the presidency. Delfim Moreira, who always appeared on the charts as president, was temporary. Petista is equal to Getúlio in the third round, but with one difference: there are three buffaloes that are democratically conquered. Getúlio came to power in the 1930 coup (called the “Revolution”), tried a democratic regime, but carried out the coup himself in 1937.

NOT FINISHED
10 presidents did not complete the journey envisaged in 11 terms. In a universe of 32 people, this is no small feat: Marechal Deodoro resigned in 1891; Afonso Pena died of pneumonia in 1909; Washington Luiz was dismissed by the Revolution of the 30s; Getúlio was forced to resign in 1945 and committed suicide in 1954; Café Filho left due to illness and was indicted in 1955; Jânio Quadros resigned in 1961; João Goulart was dismissed in a coup in 1964; Costa e Silva resigned from the Presidency in 1969 due to a stroke; Fernando Collor was impeached in 1992 due to an impeachment process, but resigned to avoid the ongoing Senate trial, and in 2016 Dilma Rousseff was also a target of impeachment.

Do you understand? Never before in the history of this country had a President fled to Brazil while performing his duties, as Bolsonaro had promised. 11 times when 10 presidents failed to complete a term (two in Getulio’s case), only Jânio showed a will, in addition to a miscalculation: there are well-founded speculations that he is planning a coup d’état himself. Others were taken by circumstances that were not of their own choosing. “What about Getúlio’s suicide?” The story is known: When the man who ruled the country as a dictator returned to the Presidency with the elections, he made an extreme gesture to avoid being overthrown and arrested by the putschists.

So the closest thing to Bolsonaro’s escape is the caphagetting of Jânio Quadros. But still, face it, nothing compares to a President peeing to not pass the banner over to his successor. It is clear that we are talking about a symbolism, a corporate ceremony. But the escape, which leaves behind a coup d’etat and leaves behind criminals willing to commit terrorist acts to prevent the elected official from taking office, gives the “captain” a moral dimension.

WE HAVE EVERYTHING
And look, the history of the Republic is up and down. Rodrigues Alves, who ruled the country from 1902 to 1906, was re-elected in 1918, but died of the Spanish flu before taking office. Deputy Delfim Moreira, who served a long interim term from November 15, 1918 to July 28, 1919, took over. In practice, the country was ruled by Afrânio de Melo Franco. Moreira showed signs of dementia, possibly due to tertiary syphilis. Death also prevented Tancredo Neves from taking office. There was an elected president who did not take office, like Júlio Prestes, who was trampled on by the 1930 coup.

The country has already been ruled by a military junta twice: from 24/10/30 to 3/11/30 and from 08/31/69 to 30/10/69. There were already non-permanent members who tried to participate in a coup and were removed from office, such as Carlos Luz, who was president of the chamber and joined the conspiracy to prevent Juscelino Kubitschek from taking office. The man spent three days in the Presidency: from 11/8/55 to 11/11/55. He was replaced by the 1st vice-president of the Senate, Nereu Ramos: 11/11/55 – 31/01/56. Juscelino took over in Brazil somewhat wildly, as Marshal Lott staged what became known as the “legal coup” – it was a counter-coup, but of a military nature…

The militia even imposed a parliamentary regime to accept João Goulart after Jânio’s resignation – a situation which Jango later reversed – and the result was a coup that guaranteed one of Ranieri Mazzilli’s two interns. Speaker of the Parliament. Illness removed the dictator Costa e Silva from power, but the civilian MP Pedro Aleixo did not take office because a military junta called “The Three Stooges” by Ulysses Guimarães came to power until Emílio Garrastazu Médici took office. The name of the accomplice: Admiral Augusto Rademaker, Secretary of the Navy; General Aurélio de Lira Tavares, Minister of the Army, and Brigadier General Márcio de Sousa Melo, Minister of the Air Force.

THEREFORE…
So, as you can see, our range of exceptions is wide: swindlers, putschists, idiots, temporary, insane, and the elected who didn’t rule either because they died or because they were overthrown before taking office. But it is certainly the first time that a president who is in office decides to leave the country without resigning, without looking abroad, before the end of his term.

This reveals the debasement Bolsonaro has dragged the Republic into, and becomes a symbol of his scandalous irresponsibility. No one has ever been this vile, this cowardly, this vile. It is said that even his wife, Michelle, will not accompany him. But fanatics will continue to pay attention to the dog’s whistle.