What Led Up to the Attack on Brazil’s Government?

Thousands of supporters of Brazilian ex-President Jair Bolsonaro stormed congress, the presidential palace and the top court in Brasilia on Sunday, in what some saw as an attempt to trigger a military coup. Many Bolsonaro supporters have been pleading with the military to step in ever since President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won a tightly contested runoff election on Oct. 30. It was the worst attack on Brazil’s key institutions since the end of a military dictatorship and return to democracy in the 1980s and came after a bitter campaign that underscored the country’s deep divisions.

It featured two larger-than-life figures representing opposite ends of the political spectrum. Lula, a leftist and former labor union leader, is revered by those who credit him with implementing policies that lifted millions out of poverty during his two terms in office from 2003-11, and reviled by others who see him as a symbol of corruption. He was found guilty of money laundering and corruption in 2017 and sentenced to almost 10 years in prison. A 77-year-old cancer survivor, he was released in 2019 after the Supreme Court adopted a new policy on detention during appeals, and the Court annulled his conviction on procedural grounds in 2021. Bolsonaro, 67, is a former army captain who was stabbed while on the campaign trail in 2018 and has been hospitalized several times as a result of that attack. His supporters consider him a guardian of traditional family values and an anti-corruption crusader, important campaign topics in a generally conservative nation. The president’s opponents have labeled him a far-right authoritarian and accuse him of advancing sexism, racism and homophobia.