ST. PAUL. The circle is closing in Brazil around the financiers and supporters of the attempted coup against President Lula da Silva. Justice awaits the return home of Ansderson Torres, Bolsonaro’s former justice minister, in whose house a draft document was found for a presidential decree to annul the result of the elections at the end of October. The idea was to decree a state of emergency and annul Lula’s victory on the basis of unspecified irregularities during the voting. Torres, who is expected today by the United States, must also answer for the sabotage of the security devices during the seizure of the buildings of power last Sunday.
In the meantime, the investigators want to trace the financiers of the whole operation. 1.5 million euros owned by about fifty people and seven companies that would have paid for the transport were blocked, the food and lodging of the demonstrators who descended on the capital. Lula has promised a tough and thorough investigation, several former allies of Bolsonaro are withdrawing for fear of ending up in the investigation. Among them Luciano Hang, owner of the Havan department store chain, who after having been a regular presence in right-wing meetings for 4 years now claims that the time has come to move on and help the current government. The group leader of the Senate majority calls for the former president to be impeached. The future of Jair Bolsonaro, who is still in Florida, is uncertain.
His visa in the United States expires at the end of the month, the ongoing investigations aim to identify his participation in the organization of the assault on Brasilia. Bolsonaro has never abandoned the theory of electoral fraud, but he is increasingly isolated; he is losing the support of parliamentary governors elected from the ranks of the parties who backed his candidacy. Many of them are thinking about their political future and for this reason they are now treated by the most radicalized base of Bolsonarismo as traitors.