A Law Signed by Bolsonaro Paved the Way for Authorities to Prosecute His Insurrectionists by Isabela Dias
January 11, 2023
Introduction:
(Mother Jones) On Sunday, in Brazil’s version of the January 6 insurrection, thousands of supporters of defeated former President Jair Bolsonaro staged a coordinated assault against the country’s democratic institutions and three branches of government. On the grounds of Brasília’s Three Powers square, insurrectionists stormed and trashed the Supreme Court, the Palácio do Planalto, and Congress buildings, as they called for military intervention and promised not to leave without engaging the support of the Army. When the military finally arrived at the scene, Bolsonaro supporters, many of whom had been camping outside the Army headquarters, applauded and celebrated, assuming that new allies were joining them, only to watch their heroes dismantle their encampments. “Until an hour ago we trusted the Army would protect us,” one tearful insurrectionist said in a self-recorded video. “The Army turned us in.”
In another example of ironic and unintended consequences, these pro-Bolsonaro agitators could face criminal charges based on legal provisions that were put in place under the Bolsonaro administration. In September 2021, the now-former president signed a law passed by Congress repealing the 1983 Brazilian National Security Law, a legacy of the military dictatorship (1964–1985). In its place, they added a provision on “crimes against democratic institutions” to the Penal Code. Now, several criminal experts interviewed by Brazilian media say the January 8 rioters could be prosecuted under two articles in the Penal Code: “Trying, by using violence or serious threat, to abolish the Democratic State of Law, preventing or restricting the exercise of constitutional powers,” and the “attempt to depose, by means of violence or grave threat, the legitimately constituted government.” The first can trigger a punishment of four to eight years in prison and the second up to 12 years.
In addition to crimes against the democratic institutions, the insurrectionists could face charges for more than a dozen infractions, including damage to public property, criminal association, and inflicting bodily injury. Some legal experts and lawmakers have also suggested that authorities who failed to prevent and stop the attack, as well as those who incited and abetted it, should be investigated for potential crimes of responsibility.
‘No Amnesty!’: Brazilian Protests Demand Jail for Rioters by David Biller and Felipe Mello
January 10, 2023
Introduction:
(Courthouse News) RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — “No amnesty! No amnesty! No amnesty!”
The chant reverberated off the walls of the jam-packed hall at the University of Sao Paulo’s law college on Monday afternoon. Within hours, it was the rallying cry for thousands of Brazilians who streamed into the streets of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, penned on protest posters and banners.
The words are a demand for retribution against the supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro who stormed Brazil’s capital Sunday, and those who enabled the rampage.
“These people need to be punished, the people who ordered it need to be punished, those who gave money for it need to be punished,” Bety Amin, a 61-year-old therapist, said on Sao Paulo’s main boulevard. The word “DEMOCRACY” stretched across the back of her shirt. “They don’t represent Brazil. We represent Brazil.”
Protesters' push for accountability evokes memories of an amnesty law that for decades has protected military members accused of abuse and murder during the country's 1964-85 dictatorship. A 2014 truth commission report sparked debate over how Brazil has grappled with the regime's legacy
It keeps happening, my twitter is basically a big timeline of hidden posts with "XXX's account has been withheld in Brazil in response to a legal demand"
As I said before, never I would've thought that I would need a VPN to check for the news, but here we are.
Top Brazil Court Greenlights Bolsonaro Probe After 8 Jan Riot
Source: 1news.co.nz
"Brazilian authorities are investigating who enabled Bolsonaro's radical supporters to storm the Supreme Court, Congress and presidential palace in an attempt to overturn results of the October election. Targets include those who summoned rioters to the capital or paid to transport them, and local security personnel who may have stood aside to let the mayhem occur."
Finally got myself a VPN to ditch the censorship. Good stuff. Works well. Next step is to make it work on the router level.
Unfortunately a good VPN is quite expensive here and most probably around 99% of the population won't be able to afford it or know how to use it to avoid the censors. Take note: censorship works! People figuratively eat propaganda for breakfast, lunch and dinner here. All TV channels are pro-goverment, specially the one with the highest audience. As most dissenters have had their accounts suspended in Brazil, one basically see, reads and watches pro-goverment propaganda from well known people online. Dissent is only seen from meme, low followers account and a few people still left that are on the road to be censored.
R8Z wrote: ↑Fri Jan 20, 2023 5:07 am
Finally got myself a VPN to ditch the censorship. Good stuff. Works well. Next step is to make it work on the router level.
Unfortunately a good VPN is quite expensive here and most probably around 99% of the population won't be able to afford it or know how to use it to avoid the censors. Take note: censorship works! People figuratively eat propaganda for breakfast, lunch and dinner here. All TV channels are pro-goverment, specially the one with the highest audience. As most dissenters have had their accounts suspended in Brazil, one basically see, reads and watches pro-goverment propaganda from well known people online. Dissent is only seen from meme, low followers account and a few people still left that are on the road to be censored.
Forgot to say something important: the way the censorship actually works is quite funny. All the social media companies know these people aren't really criminals posting anything bad online, so instead of banning them from their platform completely they only "ban" them for Brazilian IPs. That's why using a VPN one is able to still read and see what they are talking about.
Unfortunately this is still extremely damaging to everyone who gets the leash as suddenly they lose all of their income stream and are basically without an audience. The cherry on top is that it's not possible to take these decisions to court to contest them as no one is able to see the court files, not even the defending judge. Smells like censorship already or nah? Anyway, at least a VPN works and there are still platforms like Rumble for people to post their videos and continue to gather followers.
- Someone set themselves on fire in a protest against our proto-Dictator and died in front of the "supreme" judicial court. His last words were wishing death upon the dictator and the court itself. [It's becoming funny how people are unable to cope living under the regime. Maybe if the guy had a VPN he wouldn't have killed himself.]
- Telegram prefers to pay huge fine (R$1.2 mi) instead of suspending/banning from their platform a right-leaning deputy/congressman just elected (2023). Their reason not to do it were that there was simply no accusation or case; just an outright ban from the supreme court and the proto-dictator. [Obviously another case of censorship and Telegram knows that the repercussion is worth the money spent. Luckily Twitter is also not giving in to these blatant censor requests, although they still are censoring high-profile opposition. Most are censored nowadays.]
Stay tuned for more news from the dark side next time.
Brazil’s Lula in Shanghai on Visit to Boost Ties With China April 13, 2023
Introduction:
BEIJING (AP via Courthouse News) — Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was in the Chinese financial hub of Shanghai on Thursday as he looks to boost ties and win political support for attempts to mediate the conflict in Ukraine.
Lula arrived late Wednesday and is due to meet with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday before concluding his visit on Saturday.
The Brazilian government says the sides are expected to sign at least 20 bilateral agreements during Lula’s trip, underscoring the improvement in relations with the South American giant’s biggest trade partner following a rocky patch under predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.
In Shanghai, Lula will also attend the official swearing in of close adviser and former Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff as head of the Chinese-backed New Development Bank.
The institution posits itself as an alternative to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, which are controlled mainly by the United States and its Western allies. It is focused on the so-called BRICS group of developing nations made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
This year so far the government has been following the steps of the latino-american socialist wet dream:
Added/enforced insane taxes on imports (target for this action is the direct customer trying to purchase stuff from Aliexpress/Shein, but any direct-customer foreign purchase is affected). The tax rate reaches about +150% on the price paid when you add the state taxes as well (e.g if it costs $5 + $5 shipping, you are going to pay $15 in taxes for a total of $25 for a product of $5). Yes, you read it right. Only exception are books and medicine, everything else is ~+150%;
Added taxes on income from investments by Brazilians in foreign countries; this targets small investors only mostly as big ones have mechanisms to avoid it;
Telegram has been blocked in Brazil; the court order request things Telegram wasn't able to provide given the technology purposely used to avoid tyrannical governments, basically they wanted Telegram to either store and provide things they claim they don't or to break encryption;
"Censorship bill" against "fake news" that it going to be voted in congress soon; Google, Twitter and other big techs are under threat of censorship as well for voicing their opinion against the bill -- no joke;
Record high deforestation levels on the Amazon forest -- Given the absurd amount of propaganda that was spread online, specially in foreign media, I understand if anyone has been fooled into thinking that our current corrupt president would be the "savior of the Amazon". Clearly not so far.
If anyone wants links to these I should be able to provide.
While I generally am in favor of leftist policies under democracy if the majority desire them -- for example in Scandinavia -- the Latino-american implementation has always been a disaster due to the corruption and a barely working state apparatus. It so seems that every Latam leader from the left tries to follow 60's-80's USSR policies on censorship, tariffs, centralization etc. It's insane.
I am open to debate on those policies and how they affect the average Brazilian.
Brazilian Police Raid Former President Bolsonaro’s Home and Arrest Former Aide
by Duarte Mendonca
May 3, 2023
Introduction:
CNN — Brazilian Federal Police arrested one of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s closest aides and two others, in connection to the investigation of a gang that allegedly falsified data on Covid-19 vaccination cards, according to CNN affiliate CNN Brasil. Sixteen search and seizure warrants and six arrest warrants were also served, police said in a statement.
Lieutenant-Colonel Mauro Cid’s defense told CNN Brasil that he has not yet obtained access to the inquiry, “which is considerable and confidential.” The defense added, “We will declare as soon as we obtain a copy of the records.”
The police also carried out a search and seizure connected to the same investigation at an address linked to where Bolsonaro lives with his wife Michelle Bolsonaro in Brasília, near the Jardim Botânico, CNN Brasil reported.
“Today the Federal Police carried out a search and seizure of our house, we don’t know the reason and even our lawyer did not have access to the files. Only my husband’s cell phone was seized,” tweeted Michelle Bolsonaro.
“We learned from the press that the reason would be ‘falsification of the vaccination card’ of my husband and our daughter Laura. In my house, only I was vaccinated,” she added.
