Brazil’s insurrection
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 9 January 2023
⏱️ 19 minutes
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Summary
Why thousands of supporters of the far-right former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro trashed key government buildings in the country’s capital. And what’s next for the country’s new president and Brazil’s democracy.
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On Sunday, thousands of rioters destroyed key government buildings in Brasília, Brazil’s capital, to protest the election of the country’s new leftist president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Most were supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who lost to Lula in a contentious, closely watched presidential race last year. Correspondent Anthony Faiola explains Brazil’s fraught relationship with democracy that led to this moment and how this event compares to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection in the United States.
Read our continuing live coverage of Brazil’s capital insurrection here.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | On Sunday, thousands of far-right riot are stormed Brazil's capital city and its halls |
| 0:12.2 | of power. |
| 0:13.2 | They broke windows, rip artwork in the presidential palace, and set off fireworks on the roof of Congress. |
| 0:31.8 | These rioters were supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro, a conservative figure who lost |
| 0:37.2 | re-election in the fall. |
| 0:39.0 | He never conceded to Luis Ignacio Lula de Silva. |
| 0:42.8 | The current president sworn in just last week. |
| 0:46.6 | For many of those watching this, this insurrection felt strikingly similar to the January 6th attack |
| 0:52.7 | on the U.S. capital two years ago. |
| 0:55.4 | And as post-correspondent Anthony Fiala explains, Sunday's attack in Brazil did not come out |
| 1:01.1 | of nowhere. |
| 1:04.7 | Since election day, there were thousands of Brazilians of supporters of Bolsonaro who |
| 1:09.7 | have been camped out at military headquarters hoping that there would be a military intervention |
| 1:15.7 | that would, in some ways, overturn the election results, which they don't recognize and |
| 1:22.1 | restore Bolsonaro to power. |
| 1:24.7 | Anthony is in Brazil, covering the aftermath of this attack. |
| 1:28.5 | The exact objective remains somewhat foggy, but what we do know is that many of them did |
| 1:34.1 | believe that this would be a day when the military would see the people taking action and |
| 1:40.5 | would somehow back them. |
| 1:45.0 | From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Reports. |
| 1:48.8 | I'm Ella Heizaddi. |
| 1:50.8 | It's Monday, January 9th. |
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