Incitement of riots, flight to the United States and suspicion of genocide – even after the end of his presidency, the bad news about Jair Bolsonaro does not stop. Now there is a new accusation against the right-wing extremist: He is said to have taken part in an election conspiracy meeting.
A Brazilian senator says he attended an election conspiracy meeting with former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Senator Marcos do Val said at a news conference he was invited by a Bolsonaro ally, former MP Daniel Silveira, to meet with the then-president on December 9.
At the meeting, Silveira asked him to try to get the president of the electoral tribunal, Judge Alexandre de Moraes, to make compromising remarks in a recorded conversation that could lead to the judge’s arrest. Then-President Bolsonaro sat silently while Silveira explained the plot against Judge de Moraes.
In October 2022, Bolsonaro narrowly lost to left-wing politician Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a runoff election. He then expressed unsubstantiated doubts about the reliability of the electronic voting system. Judge Alexandre de Moraes had rejected a lawsuit by Bolsonaro’s party against the runoff election.
On December 8, Bolsonaro supporters stormed the Congress building, the Supreme Court and the Presidential Palace in Brasília. Daniel Silveira has now been arrested by the Brazilian police. Judge Moraes issued the arrest warrant. He accused Silveira of disregarding court decisions and “complete disregard and mockery” of the judiciary.
Bolsonaro officials, who have been in the United States since late December, could not be reached for comment. His Liberal Party declined to comment. Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the former president’s son, said in a statement there had never been an attempted coup. His father is a defender of law and order and has always “played within the four lines of the constitution”.
Most recently, Bolsonaro was criticized for another case. His government advocated the exploitation of the Amazon and wanted to allow gold mining in indigenous areas. Gold diggers use mercury to mine gold, polluting the water in the process. According to the Agência Brasil news agency, 570 Yanomami children have died as a result of malnutrition in recent years. More than 1000 people were also recently brought from the indigenous area with serious health problems such as malnutrition and malaria.
The Brazilian military has now deployed fighter jets and surveillance planes to prevent small planes from supplying illegal gold-mining camps in the remote protected area.
