In Brazil, the vice tightens on the rioters, Lula says he is concerned about his safety

The Brazilian government is tightening its grip on the participants, organizers and financiers of Sunday's riots in Brasilia.

Riots that prompted Lula to "deeply reorganize" his security at the Presidential Palace.

Read alsoBrazil: the impressive images of the Bolsonarists' assault on places of power

“I am convinced that the door of the Planalto palace has been opened so that people can enter, because no door has been broken,” the left-wing leader said Thursday during his first breakfast with journalists since his arrival. inauguration on January 1.

“It means that someone facilitated their entry here, insisted Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

How could I have someone at my office door who could shoot me?

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More than 4,000 supporters of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who refuse his electoral defeat at the end of October, wreaked havoc in the capital on Sunday, invading and ransacking the Presidential Palace, the Supreme Court and Congress.

About 2,000 people were arrested and more than 1,100 were imprisoned after being questioned, according to the latest report from the authorities.

VIDEO.

Brazil: ransacking of places of power by supporters of Bolsonaro

“The pro-Bolsonaro movement is under pressure and does not have the degree of organization necessary for a counter-offensive,” said sociologist Geraldo Monteiro, co-author of a book on Bolsonarism.

And many rioters have been identified through surveillance cameras, press footage or selfies they posted on social media.

But the priority of the authorities is now to sanction the networks that worked behind the scenes to finance and organize the insurrection.

1.2 million euros in damage

On Thursday, the office of the Advocate-General of the Union, which defends the interests of the federal state, asked the justice of Brasilia to freeze 6.5 million reais (about 1.2 million euros ) of 52 people and seven companies accused of having financed the transport of the rioters.

According to several Brazilian media, a large number of alleged financiers are linked to the agribusiness sector, loyal support of Jair Bolsonaro.

The national heritage suffered considerable damage, offices were ransacked and works of art destroyed.

For the two chambers of Congress alone, they amount to more than one million euros, according to the first estimates made public by the government.

A first damage assessment report notably mentions a carpet soaked in urine.

"From now on we are going to be tougher, because what happened (this) weekend must not happen again," said Lula.

Staff reshuffling

The president also announced "a reshuffle" of the staff working on behalf of the presidency.

“The palace was filled with pro-Bolsonaro, military people.

They will be replaced by “career civil servants, preferably civilians”.

Thursday, Lula multiplied the meetings with his ministers, in an apparent concern for a return to normality after the shock of this unprecedented attack on Brazilian democracy since the establishment of the military dictatorship (1964-1985).

VIDEO.

The Brasilia attack "is the translation of a drift of Brazil during the last fifteen years"

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Tuesday ordered the arrest of Fabio Augusto, the military police commander in Brasilia, and Anderson Torres, Bolsonaro's ex-justice minister and the capital's security secretary at the time. riots.

Anderson Torres is expected to arrive in Brazil this Friday from the United States.

The evidence against him should increase: the police found at his home a proposal for a decree aimed at intervening with the Superior Electoral Court and thus reversing the result of the October presidential election.

The former minister pleaded his innocence.

United States Embarrassment

In the United States, elected Democrats have called for President Joe Biden to revoke the visa of the former Brazilian president, who is in Florida.

“We must not allow Jair Bolsonaro or any other former Brazilian official to find refuge in the United States in order to escape justice for any possible crime committed during his mandate”, write these 41 elected officials in an open letter to the president Biden.

They call on the US government to "cooperate fully with any investigation by the Brazilian government" and to verify the legal status in the United States of the former president, who arrived on US territory as head of state.

His stay in Florida puts the United States in a relatively awkward light, reminiscent of previous hosts of controversial Latin American leaders.