No doubt is allowed: Renato Barao is a pure Bolsonarist. A resident of Sao Paulo, this 41-year-old unemployed threw himself headlong into the battle for the presidential election in October 2022. During the campaign, he worked for a time as a commentator at TV Piaui, a far-right YouTube channel conspiratorial, closed by the federal police for spreading false information and slander.
But today Renato is angry with his people. “What happened on January 8 is madness, madness! »he tells the World on WhatsApp about the ransacking of institutions in Brasilia by far-right activists. “I am a legalist. These ridiculous amateurs wanted to make their Brazilian Capitol. The thugs must be identified, tried and imprisoned”, he decides. Renato is not the only Bolsonarist to disapprove of the Brasilia riots. While the capital is licking its wounds and those responsible are gradually being imprisoned, the supporters of the former president are trying to digest the events. Between disarray, distrust and determination, some, shaken, experience their first doubts and are already trying to reunite.
“We must distinguish the voters of Jair Bolsonaro and the militant Bolsonarists”, recalls Camila Rocha, political scientist at the University of Sao Paulo. The most radicalized plot, contesting the victory of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the elections and demanding an army coup, would represent “a few hundred thousand people”, says the researcher. It is from this breeding ground that the far-right captain recruits his “soldiers”.
Accusations against the left
Lieutenant-Colonel Luiz Fernando Walther de Almeida, 69, also watched with spite as the palaces of Brasilia were ransacked. Companion of promotion of Jair Bolsonaro at the Military Academy, this retiree had been in recent months of all the far-right demonstrations organized against the military command of Rio. “We were singing the national anthem, we were shouting ‘SOS Armed Forces, save Brazil!’ It was always peaceful”, he swears. On January 8, “the crowd has turned into a mob, uncontrollable, stormy”, deplores the lieutenant-colonel. He is angry with the State for not having maintained order, but also with the “radicals” and to “bad leaders” who have “thrown everyone over the precipice”. “Today we have a new government. Continuing to demonstrate no longer makes sense. It’s over “he concludes.
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