Johannesburg – The Department of International Relations and Co-operation (Dirco) has strongly condemned the events that unfolded in Brazil on Sunday, January 8, 2023, with rioters storming the Congress and Supreme Court buildings in the capital city, Brasilia.
The department said that South Africa notes that the majority of the people of Brazil accepted the outcome of last year's free and fair general elections.
"The actions of the rioters will not succeed in undermining the will of the majority. South Africa reaffirms its recognition of and confidence in President Lula da Silva's democratically elected government," said the department.
The SACP has also conveyed a message of solidarity with the people of Brazil in defence of their country from right-wing elements hell-bent on plunging the country into a crisis against the widely accepted outcomes of democratic elections.
"The SACP strongly condemns the right-wing elements who invaded Brazil’s Congress, the Supreme Court, and the presidential palace and also caused disruption at the inauguration of Brazil’s democratically elected new President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The right-wing elements seem emboldened to spread their terror across the country," said the party.
The SACP said that the election of President Lula, which has been endorsed by the entire world as free and fair, has swung the country back to a pro-people and pro-peace trajectory.
"Jair Bolsonaro, the ex-president who lost the Brazilian presidential election to Lula, fled Brazil on the eve of Lula’s inauguration. He is reportedly in Florida in the US — the same enclave where the terrorists who have been hell-bent on destroying Cuba and its sovereignty have found right-wing solidarity and accommodation.
“During his presidency, Bolsonaro was a Brazilian replica of Donald Trump on many issues. This was typified by his deplorable response to the deadly Covid-19 pandemic, in which Brazil, like the US, unnecessarily lost countless lives. In true Trump fashion, the man refused to peacefully hand over power to his democratically elected successor," said the SACP.
The SACP said that it believed that Bolsonaro’s supporters were rehashing Trump’s January 6 action in Brazil, causing violent destabilisation, which might be aimed at orchestrating an undemocratic change of government in reaction to the democratic election outcomes. On January 6, 2021, Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol after he lost the US’s presidential election.
"The SACP reiterates its unwavering condemnation of imperialism, not to mention US imperialism, regardless of who wins its domestic elections.The US must extradite Bolsonaro as a matter of urgency for justice to take its course," added the SACP.
Trade union Numsa’s general secretary Irvin Jim called on all progressive formations to defend Lula against the actions of opportunistic fascists who were seeking to destabilise Brazil for their own selfish right-wing agenda.
"They have good reason to fear him. The last time that Lula was in power, he transformed the lives of at least 20 million Brazilians by lifting them out of poverty through progressive socialist policies," he said.
The Star