USA, senators condemning assaults in Brazil

WASHINGTON - Some American lawmakers have condemned the attacks in Brazil against the buildings of power by supporters of Bolsonaro, attacks that are supported by Washington

Some US lawmakers condemned the unrest by Washington-backed former Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro’s far-right supporters after they stormed and vandalized government buildings on Sunday. They also called on the Biden administration and local Florida authorities to extradite Bolsonaro to Brazil. In a dramatic escalation of the political situation in Brazil, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters broke into Congress and the country’s Supreme Court and looted the buildings.

Local media estimated that around 3,000 people took part in the raids. Brazil’s new president Lula has blamed Bolsonaro for instigating his supporters after a campaign of baseless accusations over the election result, vowing to bring those responsible for the “fascist” assault to justice. “There is no precedent for what they did,” Lula told reporters in São Paulo state on Sunday. “All the people who did this will be found and punished.”

The Brazilian president, who took office on January 1st, also declared federal intervention in the capital’s public security until January 31st. He said local militarized police forces led by Rocha, a former Bolsonaro ally, did nothing to stop the protesters’ advance. “I am disturbed by the violence that took place in Brasilia today,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) wrote in a tweet Sunday. “I stand with Brazil’s democratically elected government and condemn the violence that seeks to undermine it.”

“The democracies of the world must act quickly to make it clear that there will be no support for right-wing insurrectionists storming the Brazilian Congress,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md) wrote in a tweet. “These fascists modeling themselves on Trump’s January 6 rioters need to end up in the same place: prison.”

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) wrote that the United States “must be in solidarity” with President Lula and his government, adding that Washington “must stop giving refuge to Bolsonaro,” who is currently in Florida.

Former Brazilian President Bolsonaro was admitted to AdventHealth Celebration, a hospital outside Orlando, Florida, with severe abdominal pain. The O Globo portal writes it, recalling that since the surgery he underwent after the 2018 stabbing, Bolsonaro has been hospitalized other times with the same symptoms. The US has not received any official request from Brazil regarding a possible extradition of the former president after the assault on Parliament.