BBC News Brazil Biden government receives file from academics warning ‘most extreme version of attack on Capitol’ in Brazil 29/04/2022 06:52

A little more than five months before the Brazilian election – and without an American ambassador in the country – senior members of the Joe Biden administration and the United States Congress were given a dossier with several academics and nonprofits this week. Brazil and the United States are asking Americans to be vigilant about the 2022 elections and to prioritize individual freedoms and democracy over geopolitical and commercial interests in their diplomatic relations with the country.

Bolsonaro creates the conditions for a very unstable electoral environment and if he loses, the world should remember January 6, 2021, the attack on the US Capitol, and be prepared to witness a possibly more extreme version of it in Brazil,” said BBC News Brasil. 25 page document states.

The file, which was sent to Biden through some of his top advisers, draws attention to the similarities between Bolsonaro’s behavior and that of former US President Donald Trump, in order to attract the attention of the US government. “Recalling Trump’s 2020 rhetoric, Bolsonaro said he may not accept the results of the 2022 election, creating fertile ground for disinformation and extremist action,” the document says.

In response, Trump accused the American electoral system of being fraudulent before the elections were held, and after the polls closed, he filed several lawsuits against his defeat, tried to persuade political actors to disapprove of the results, and summoned his followers to a demonstration. It ended with the invasion of the US Congress, an episode in which five people died.

The Brazilian president reiterated Trump’s unproven accusations of US election fraud and delayed official greetings to the Republican’s successor, Democrat Biden.

In Brazil, Bolsonaro campaigned for print voting and even held a tank parade in Brasilia; Congress has decided how the country will vote in 2022. This week, the Brazilian president reiterated that electronic voting machines are uncontrollable. He said there might be “doubt” in the selection process.

Bolsonaro, running for the election, ranks second in election polls so far behind former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT).

“Bolsonaro is not concerned with the integrity of the elections and is trying to find any reason to object to the results – even before the election is held,” the report, forwarded to the Americans, says.

The document was prepared by professors at the University of Miami, Brown University, University of Virginia, CUNY (City University of New York), among others, and was compiled by the Washington Brazil Office with support from organizations such as Greenpeace, ABRI (Brazilian Association for International Affairs), APIB (Expression of Brazilian Indigenous Peoples), Article 19, Instituto Sou da Paz, among others.

The text describes the speeches of the Brazilian president on September 7 as “pro-coup rallies”. At the time, Bolsonaro even said that he would no longer abide by the judicial orders of Alexandre de Moraes, one of the ministers of the Federal Supreme Court (STF). The report also states that “Bolsonaro has proven to be a threat to Brazilian democracy” and that “institutions have never been more threatened since re-democratisation”.

The dossier cites a copy of the message originally sent by Flávio Bolsonaro, while the file talks about how Bolsonarista profiles circulated on the internet in 2018, citing a fake video that the electronic voting machine suggested that Bolsonaro had cast the vote for Fernando Haddad (PT). By Youtuber Paul Joseph Watson of Infowars website, a former acquaintance of Democrats, one of the biggest spreaders of fake news in the 2016 and 2020 American presidential elections and a supporter of Donald Trump.

Addressing the rise in deforestation rates under the current administration and the Executive’s troubled relationship with minorities such as indigenous peoples, the document says, “His (Bolsonaro’s) constant attacks on elections should lead international governments to support Brazilian democracy.” . . .

‘They are trying to give an air of legality to the elections with international observers’

As the file is circulated to the White House and all US congressmen, President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) once again casts doubt on the electoral process in Brazil. At an event this Wednesday (27) in Palácio do Planalto, Bolsonaro suggested that the Army double-check the October election.

“There is a cable feeding the secret room of TSE when the elections are over and the data comes over the internet. Can you believe it? The secret room where half a dozen technicians say ‘this is the winner’. Branch, a bit. On the right, because we also have a computer from the Armed Forces to count the votes. ” said. TSE denies that there is a secret room, as the president mentioned.

Last weekend, STF minister and former head of TSE Luís Roberto Barroso said at an event at a German university, “There hasn’t been a case of corruption in Brazil since 1996. The elections are completely clean, safe and auditable. And now we are using the Armed Forces for Offensive. Do you think you are invited to participate in the (election) process, are you driven to attack the process and try to discredit it?”

Barroso’s statement was the subject of a memo by Defense Minister Paulo Sérgio Nogueira de Oliveira, calling it a “serious crime”.

In mid-April, amid tensions between the powers, TSE made requests to various international organizations to act as observers of the electoral process in Brazil this year. Guests include the European Union, OAS (Organization of American States), Carter Center, an organization founded by former US President Jimmy Carter, ParlaSul (Mercosur Parliament), Uniore (International Electoral Association), IFES (International Electoral Systems Foundation) and CPLP (Portuguese) Community of Speaking Countries).

The presence of international election observers is nothing new. Still, President Bolsonaro reacted angrily to the initiative.

“People want to give an air of legality (elections) by inviting international observers. Imagine an American, a Japanese, an Angolan, a Swede, come here, what will they do? Out of the blue at night, the results come out. Is this an observation? What is this legality? What is it that these elections took place? How sure can he be?” Bolsonaro asked at an event at the Planalto Palace this Wednesday.

But those in charge of the dossier argue that the time has come to turn the eyes of international audiences, especially Americans, to Brazil. According to Paulo Abrão, former Secretary General of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and one of the directors of the Washington Brazil Office responsible for drafting the dossier, some American parliamentarians are discussing the possibility of forming an official “friends” group. Brazil” will follow the process of selection.

“We urge the international community to look at Brazil and follow the process even before the election. The US voice supporting the outcome of an election is always crucial in defining scenarios in the international community,” Abram told BBC News. Brazil.

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The dossier was forwarded to Biden through some of his top advisers, including Climate Ambassador John Kerry, Latin American presidential adviser Juan Gonzalez, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, and USAID agency director Samantha Power. Sullivan and González visited Brazil in August of last year. On this occasion, in the face of Bolsonaro’s public criticism of the Brazilian electoral system, Gonzalez made public statements about Brazilian democracy.

“We have very directly expressed our confidence in the Brazilian institutions’ ability to hold free and clean elections and stressed the importance of not undermining confidence in the electoral process, especially as there has been no evidence of fraud in past elections.” , Gonzalez on the content of the conversation with Bolsonaro.

BBC News Brasil has found that among Democratic congressmen in the US House of Representatives, there is a possibility of an “informative visit” to Brasília by some congressmen in the second half of August to monitor the Brazilian election process. U.S. Congressional involvement will also be key to getting the name of Elizabeth Bagley, Biden’s nominee for the U.S. Embassy in Brazil, approved before October. Thus, the United States would have the highest level of permanent observer on Brazilian soil.

This week, the US State Department sent a high-level delegation to meetings with Itamaraty and other Brazilian authorities in the country. Asked at a press conference about the elections, US officials reaffirmed their confidence in the Brazilian institutions’ ability to make a choice consistent with the preferences of the Brazilian people.

“The Biden administration will most likely not support any candidate. But in the event of a crisis involving elections, I expect the current US administration to support democracy and democratic results. The state of affairs in Brazil, in particular Alexander Main, director of international policy from the Think Tank Center to BBC News Brasil. “Even if there is a crisis in the Brazilian elections, elections must be held so that the legislature can pressure the Biden government to act in the right way,” said Economic and Policy Research, Washington DC, and one of the directors of the Washington Brazil Office.

The Joe Biden government defends democracy as one of its main global posters, and in December last year it held a meeting with more than a hundred countries to discuss challenges to democratic regimes around the world. Brazil was one of the guests.