“Terrorists” Denying Brazil’s Election Results Threaten Lula da Silva’s Investiture, Says Incoming Justice Minister

(Reuters) – Protesters who reject the election results and camp out in front of Brazilian army bases have become “incubators of terrorism,” Brazil’s incoming justice minister said Sunday, a day after police detonated an explosive device. and detained a suspect whom he accused of having ties to the camp in Brasilia.

“Yesterday’s serious events in Brasilia show that the so-called ‘patriotic’ camps have become incubators for terrorists,” tweeted Flávio Dino, who will be Brazil’s next justice minister. “There will be no amnesty for the terrorists, their supporters and financiers,” he added.

Supporters of President Jair Bolsonaro have camped outside army bases in Brazil for weeks, urging the military to revoke the victory of President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who takes office on January 1, 2023.

Dino said that preparations for Lula’s inauguration would be “re-evaluated, with a view to reinforcing security.”

In another tweet, Dino said he would propose the creation of “special groups to combat terrorism and irresponsible armaments. The rule of law is not compatible with these political militias.”

News of the bombing added a new dimension to post-election violence in Brazil, where tensions remain high after the country’s closest election in a generation.

Bolsonaro, who has yet to concede defeat, has made unsubstantiated claims about the credibility of Brazil’s voting system, and is believed by many of his staunchest supporters. The head of Brazil’s electoral tribunal last month rejected a complaint by Bolsonaro’s allies challenging the presidential election.

Protests against the election of Lula in Brazil

The Brasilia camp, opposite the Army headquarters, has become one of the most extreme in the country. On December 12, the day Lula’s victory was certified, some of the camp’s inhabitants attacked the federal police headquarters in Brasilia.

Robson Cândido, head of the Civil Police in Brasilia, said a 54-year-old man from the northeastern state of Pará had been detained and confessed to planting the device in a fuel truck near the Brasilia airport to sow chaos.

“He came to participate in the protests, in front of the Army headquarters, and he is part of that movement that supports the current president,” he told reporters. “They are on that mission, which according to them is ideological, but which has gotten out of control.”

Police also found assault rifles and other explosives in an apartment rented by the man in Brasilia. Cândido said the suspect was a registered gun owner, part of the Coleccionista, Tirador Deportivo y Cazador (CAC), a group whose membership has grown six-fold to nearly 700,000 since Bolsonaro was elected in 2018 and began easing gun laws. .

Cândido also said that the man, and those helping him, had tried to activate the explosive device, but that it had not gone off. He said it was not yet clear how many other people were involved.

“We have never had bombs here in Brazil,” he said.