Can Brazilian democracy regain its soul?

An operation by the Brazilian Federal Police baptized as

Tempus Veritatis

(Time of Truth)

has revealed what was already clearly visible but there was still not enough evidence to affirm: the right-wing extremist Jair Bolsonaro planned a coup to perpetuate himself in power and For this, he had the support of high-ranking military personnel.

Other high-ranking military officers did not support the constitutional breach, but they did not denounce it nor arrest their coup-mongering colleagues.

The investigation has not yet ended and, for now, only Bolsonaro's passport has been seized.

What happens from now on could define the future of democracy in Brazil.

To a large extent, today's Brazil is the result of the amnesty that was granted to the military who kidnapped, tortured and executed during the last dictatorship, which lasted 21 years, from 1964 to 1985. Unlike neighboring countries like Argentina, which at recover democracy, they tried state criminals and imprisoned torturers and dictators, Brazil opted for amnesty.

This brand of impunity, which has allowed tortured people to meet their torturers in the bakery, has deformed Brazilian democracy.

There is a limit to what can be accepted without democracy losing its soul.

Brazil crossed it then and, from that moment on, it would cross it several times, starting with the fact that blacks and indigenous people still live under a regime of exception of rights.

Jair Bolsonaro, an Army captain who began his career in politics after being tried—and shamefully acquitted—by military justice for planning terrorist acts as a means of pressure to get a salary increase, is the son of this democracy corrupted at birth.

Throughout his political career, he committed several acts classified as crimes in the Penal Code, including incitement to torture, and was never arrested.

So much so that he became president of Brazil.

If Bolsonaro is finally held accountable for his actions and high-ranking military officials are convicted of plotting a coup, it will be a paradigm shift for Brazil.

Still very far from something resembling “democratic normality”, but still decisive.

So much so that Bolsonaro has called on his followers to make a show of force next Sunday by joining him in a demonstration in São Paulo, the country's largest city.

He asked some of them to come with “the medal of the three

I's

”, an obscenity with the photo of him accompanied by the three adjectives that he believes represent him: “

Indespalmable

,

immortable

and

inculpable

”.

But for anyone who appreciates justice and life, Bolsonaro is only characterized by three

g's

: grotesque, coup-mongering and genocidal.

It is hoped that the prisoner's

sentence

will finally catch up with him soon.

Translation by

Meritxell Almarza

. 

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