Brazilians split after ex-President Jair Bolsonaro’s conviction | Jair Bolsonaro News

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Last week, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was found guilty of attempting a coup and sentenced to just over 27 years in prison.

A panel of Supreme Court justices on Thursday found that the 70-year-old had sought to overthrow democracy and hang onto power despite his 2022 electoral defeat to current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Four out of five justices voted in favour of convicting Bolsonaro and his fellow defendants. Justice Luiz Fux, in the sole dissenting vote, said there was not enough evidence to find Bolsonaro guilty of attempting a coup.

The other justices ruled that the attempted coup began in 2021 when Bolsonaro began casting unfounded doubts about the reliability of Brazil’s electronic voting system. After Bolsonaro lost to Lula, efforts to maintain himself in office illegally accelerated, they said.

Bolsonaro’s alleged multipronged plan included a draft decree to suspend the election result, a meeting with Brazil’s top military commanders to ask for their support in a coup and a plot to assassinate Lula, Vice President-elect Geraldo Alckmin and Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who spearheaded the case against Bolsonaro.

On January 8, 2023, when Bolsonaro supporters ransacked the Supreme Court, the presidential palace and Congress a week after Lula’s inauguration, it was a last-ditch effort to force an army takeover, the court said.

Relations between Brazil and the United States are likely to further deteriorate after the ruling. US President Donald Trump imposed a 50 percent tariff on Brazilian goods in July, citing what he called a “witch-hunt” against Bolsonaro. After Bolsonaro’s conviction, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump’s government “will respond accordingly”.

In response, Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the government will continue to defend the country’s sovereignty “from aggressions and attempts at interference, no matter where they come from”.

As Brazilians brace for economic repercussions, many are wondering about the political ones as well. Thousands of Bolsonaro supporters took to the streets this month before the high court deliberations, leading to concerns of possible violence after a guilty verdict.

But after the sentencing announcement, the streets were mostly filled with delighted Bolsonaro opponents celebrating the outcome.

Whether Bolsonaro will be granted amnesty, win some sort of appeal or be made to serve an unprecedented sentence remains to be seen. On the streets of Rio de Janeiro, Al Jazeera spoke to Brazilians about how they viewed the verdict.

Sidney Santos, 50, taxi driver, lives in Rio’s Gloria neighbourhood

“I feel very indignant and revolted because it was a set-up. The left, along with Alexandre de Moraes and the entire Supreme Court, created this whole scheme to get Bolsonaro out of politics because he was strong.

“Trump’s tariff didn’t change anything because the outcome was already planned. Trump is pressuring other countries as well, but here, the current president didn’t sit down to negotiate.

“Unfortunately, there’s no democracy. The fake democracy they’re talking about, that they claim they’re fighting for, it’s all a lie because if you say something, if you go against their actions, then you’re going against democracy. This is a dictatorship of the robe.

“The left wants to collapse Brazil and turn Brazil into the next Venezuela. Things are only going to get worse.”

Lea Aparecida Gomes, 55, cleaner, lives in Rio’s northern zone Madureira

“Bolsonaro won’t be arrested. Here in Brazil, nothing works. If he really ends up in jail, then Brazil will start working.

“When Bolsonaro ran for the first time, I voted for him because I thought he was going to make the country better. I trusted him because he was part of the military, like my son is. But I was really disappointed. The pandemic was horrible. I think a lot of people died because of him. I lost a cousin to COVID. She was 44 years old. He kept delaying the vaccine.

“I think it’s just stupidity. A person over 70 years old could be living happily with the salary he already gets, but he wanted more. Well, I hope he’s happy in prison. He brought this on himself. He had so much and still wasn’t satisfied.”

Caio Eduardo Alves de Aquino, 21, works at a kiosk in Copacabana and lives in the Rocinha favela

“I don’t care about the conviction. I don’t know whether there was an attempted coup. Whether Bolsonaro is free or in prison, for me, it doesn’t matter. They are all the same.

“The least politicians could do is think about the future of the children. They always say that children are the future, but education is terrible. My mum says school was better in her time. Everything just keeps getting worse.

“Lula talks about education, about other things, but nothing improves. Nothing changes.”

Morena, 16, student

“When I found out Bolsonaro had been convicted, it was emotional. I felt a sense of justice finally being served after so many years enduring the Bolsonaro government and its absurdity. Pure irresponsibility during the pandemic – not buying vaccines, not wearing a mask as president. This led to over 500,000 deaths. And yes, he is guilty for that.

“There was an attempted coup on January 8. I believe Bolsonaro knew about it and supported it, and I think the 27-year sentence is justified.

“It’s a very important step. He is the first former president to be arrested for attempting a coup. But there’s still a lot that needs to be done. Many arrests are still missing, and there is still much justice to be served for various things that happened during, before and after Bolsonaro’s government.

“I think a lot about remarks in small interviews or comments by Bolsonaro himself, his sons, his friends. Racist remarks, homophobic remarks, things that are criminal. He hasn’t been judged or prosecuted for those because we’re in Brazil.

“There are many others who hold the same ideology and uphold the same values as he does. Bolsonarism is still very strong. So there’s still a lot left to do. This is just the beginning.”

Altair Lima, 50, public servant who lives in Sao Paulo state

“I don’t cheer for one side. I analyse technically and coldly because I’m not on one side or the other. I want what’s best for my country. I followed the trial every day. I agree with Justice Luiz Fux’s vote: The prosecutor general didn’t prove anything.

“Bolsonaro said a lot of things during the 2022 campaign, but when politicians are campaigning, they say whatever they want to win over voters. But never once did he fail to comply with what the law required.

“Trump’s tariff is an overreaching intervention. That’s not the way to influence things, and I don’t think that’s the way things will be resolved. No country should interfere so much in another’s affairs. What’s going to resolve this is Congress itself with our laws here inside the country. I believe an amnesty law will pass. If not now, then next year.

“We currently have a sitting president who has been convicted. So everything can change.

“My father is a bus driver. My mother has been a housewife her whole life. My whole life I leaned more to the left. But after so many corruption scandals, I was disappointed.

“Brazilians are hopeful by nature, and hope is always the last thing to die. So we always hang onto the hope that one day things will get better. We work every day towards that. But it’s a very long-term thing. It’s hard.”