BRASÍLIA—As rioters calling for the ousting of Brazil’s newly elected leftist president ransacked the capital Sunday, many Brazilians wondered whether the country’s right-leaning military would step in and stop the violence.
By Sunday evening, they had their answer: Following the orders of President
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva,
the army and military police had restored order in the city, despite having many vocal supporters of the right-wing former president,
Jair Bolsonaro,
in their ranks.
It was a victorious moment for Brazilian democracy, say former military officers and analysts who track the armed forces, especially given the influential role of the military in public policy and Brazil’s not-so-distant history with dictatorship, the last ending 38 years ago.
Police are seen through a shattered window at the Palácio do Planalto in Brasília, the official workplace of the president of Brazil, after the riots Sunday.
Photo:
Eraldo Peres/Associated Press
“Brazil is past the phase of authoritarianism, and the military is well aware of that,” said retired Army Gen. Paulo Chagas, 73 years old. Brazil is far different now than it was in the 1960s, when many lawmakers backed military intervention amid fears over Communism at the height of the Cold War, he said. “Congress now would be against it, and the state governors too.” On Sunday at 2 p.m., thousands of people dressed in the yellow and green jerseys of Brazil’s national soccer team swarmed the so-called Three Powers Square. An hour later, they were ransacking the heart of government, breaking the windows of Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace.
Military police, charged with security in the center of the capital, were light in numbers. And so for more than three hours, rioters overturned furniture and damaged artwork. Some chanted support for Mr. Bolsonaro.
Others in Brasília and elsewhere, including Bolsonaro supporters who had for weeks camped out in front of military bases,…
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