Lula calls foreign ambassadors to act on 8/1 attacks

At that moment, in 2023, the government saw a coordinated reaction from several countries around the world who, in the face of the attacks, insisted on supporting Brazilian democracy and condemning the acts.

Since then, however, with Donald Trump’s victory in the USA and an offensive from the far right to minimize these acts, the fear is that there will be an erasure of what such attacks represented. In the USA, the Republican promises to act quickly to pardon the more than a thousand convicted of the acts against the Capitol in 2021. In Brazil, allies of Bolsonarism insist on the idea of ​​an amnesty.

For foreign diplomats, marking January 8th is not just a “Brazilian obligation”. “The world followed closely what was happening in Brasília that day. Democracies are under attack,” said a European ambassador, who requested anonymity.

Among foreigners, there are many comparisons made to another invitation also made by Planalto, in 2022. At that time, the president was Jair Bolsonaro and, upon arriving at the location, they were surprised by a speech by the former head of state disseminating misinformation about the electoral process in Brazil.

During the 2022 election campaign, human rights activists, democracy defense groups and even Lula’s allies visited various capitals around the world looking for support against a possible coup d’état.

Also fundamental was the warning given by Joe Biden’s government to Bolsonaro representatives and the military that the White House would not endorse a democratic rupture in Brazil, if this was the path adopted.