South African Communist Party 

9 January 2023

SACP in solidarity with Brazilian people on outcomes of the democratic elections, condemns attacks in Brazil by right-wing elements 

The South African Communist Party (SACP) conveys its message of solidarity with the people of Brazil in defence of their country from right-wing elements hellbent 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.

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, ex-President who lost the Brazilian Presidential election to Lula, fled Brazil on the eve of Lula’s inauguration. He is reportedly in Florida, the United States, the same enclave where the terrorists who have been hellbent to destroy 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 United States, unnecessarily lost countless lives. In true Trump fashion, the man refused to peacefully hand over power to his democratically elected successor. 

It is Bolsonaro’s supporters who are re-hashing Trump’s January 6^th in Brazil, causing violent destabilisation, which might as well be aimed at undemocratic change of government, in reaction to democratic election outcomes. In 2021, on January 6^th, Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol after he lost the imperialist United States’ Presidential election. The SACP reiterates its unwavering condemnation of imperialism, not to mention United States imperialism regardless of who wins its domestic elections. 

The United States must extradite Bolsonaro as a matter of urgency for justice to take its course.