after the assault on Brasilia, the damage leaves the country in a state of shock

First modification: 01/11/2023 – 16:24

With RFI’s special envoys to Brasilia, Marie Normand and Bertrand Haeckler

“This is a sad moment in the history of my country,” says Newton Tavares, a Chamber of Deputies official for 28 years. “They broke everything, they entered through the ramp there,” he says, guiding himself through the labyrinth of corridors and underground passages.

He himself has difficulty orienting himself because since Sunday barriers and new traffic directions have sprung up everywhere. “Everything is prohibited, everything is closed, in general it is not like that, and there are not so many controls,” he told RFI.

Newton Tavares stops in front of the VIP room. Broken windows, broken armchairs… The destruction affects a heritage of incalculable value, he explains: “It hurt us. There are trampled works of art, cut pictures, everything has been looted. We were very surprised,” he says.

Tavares explains his shock “by the fact that there is a part of the Brazilian electorate that is demonstrating now to demand a military intervention after a brutal dictatorship.”

Before nightfall, workmen put up wooden panels to replace the windows. Elsewhere, people are sweeping up broken glass, trying to erase graffiti, but the Senate is open and functioning, insists Jean Paul Prates, a senator from the Workers’ Party, the presidential party. “These events are unfortunate, but we will have to survive this, so we had a normal deliberative session, it sent a strong message that the senators are working and that the institution is strong,” he underlines.

Only in the two chambers of Congress, the damage is estimated at almost 800,000 euros.

The senator calls for tracing the sources of funding for Sunday’s highly organized operation and for the pro-Bolsonaro encampments that have sprung up around the barracks since the presidential election.