{"id":420273,"date":"2025-09-13T05:05:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T05:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/420273\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T05:05:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T05:05:11","slug":"brazilians-take-to-the-streets-to-celebrate-bolsonaro-conviction-jair-bolsonaro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/420273\/","title":{"rendered":"Brazilians take to the streets to celebrate Bolsonaro conviction | Jair Bolsonaro"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thousands of Brazilians have taken to the streets to rejoice at Jair Bolsonaro\u2019s conviction for plotting a coup<\/a>, as progressive politicians celebrated the historic move and rightwing figures linked to Donald Trump responded with anger and threats.<\/p>\n

Chile\u2019s leftwing president, Gabriel Boric, led regional congratulations of the decision to jail Bolsonaro for 27 years for leading a criminal organisation that sought to seize power after the far-right populist lost the 2022 election.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy respect to Brazilian democracy which fended off a coup attempt and today judges and convicts those responsible for it. They tried to destroy [democracy] and today it emerges strengthened,\u201d Boric tweeted, adding: \u201cDemocracy always!\u201d<\/p>\n

Colombia\u2019s president, Gustavo Petro, said: \u201cAll putschists must be convicted. Those are the rules of democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Latin America, 11 September is a date deeply associated with authoritarianism and violence: it was on this day in 1973 that Gen Augusto Pinochet launched a US-backed coup in Chile that ushered in 17 years of brutal military rule<\/a> during which thousands were killed or forcibly disappeared.<\/p>\n

But on Thursday jubilant crowds in Brazil\u2019s capital, Bras\u00edlia, celebrated how Bolsonaro\u2019s conviction had given new meaning to the notorious date.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really overflowing with joy. This is such a symbolic day for us,\u201d said Renan Vidal, a bank worker who was also celebrating his 37th birthday as Bolsonaro and seven co-conspirators were found guilty of trying to \u201cannihilate\u201d Brazilian democracy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the best birthday present ever,\u201d said Vidal, who wore a rainbow flag over his shoulders. \u201cI\u2019m part of the LGBT community and our community was one of the worst affected by the Bolsonaro government. So for us it\u2019s a moment to commemorate,\u201d he added as fireworks exploded above the throng.<\/p>\n

Yucca Nani, 34, said her generation associated 11 September with another terrible event: the 9\/11 attacks in the US. \u201cIt was the day that changed the history of the modern world,\u201d she said, adding: \u201cNow in Brazil [the date] has a new meaning, which is Bolsonaro\u2019s conviction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also at the street party was Beatriz Matos, an anthropologist whose husband, the Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, was murdered in the Amazon with British journalist Dom Phillips<\/a> during Bolsonaro\u2019s 2019-2023 administration. Many believe Bolsonaro\u2019s violent, pro-gun rhetoric and dismantling of environmental and Indigenous protections helped create the backdrop for the crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel relief, happiness and fire in my eyes,\u201d Matos said of Bolsonaro\u2019s demise. \u201cWe must celebrate. Justice is being done!\u201d<\/p>\n

Beto Marubo, an Indigenous leader who is godfather to Pereira\u2019s son, said: \u201cThis is a special day for us Indigenous people and for minorities \u2026 We were the ones who most suffered under Bolsonaro and this is a breath of justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those festivities contrasted with the ire of Bolsonaro backers, in and outside of Brazil.<\/p>\n

The US deputy secretary of state, Christopher Landau, accused Alexandre de Moraes, the supreme court judge who oversaw Bolsonaro\u2019s trial, of \u201claying waste to the rule of law\u201d and \u201cdriving relations between our two great nations to their darkest point in two centuries\u201d.<\/p>\n

Bolsonaro\u2019s congressman son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, who has spent months lobbying Trump officials over his father\u2019s fate, told Reuters he expected \u201ca firm response with actions from the US government\u201d after Thursday\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n

Describing Bolsonaro as the victim of a \u201cpolitical execution\u201d, Trump has hit Brazilian imports with 50% tariffs and announced sanctions and visa revocations against supreme court judges and other officials.<\/p>\n

Asked on Thursday if he was planning further sanctions, Trump replied: \u201cI thought he was a good president of Brazil and it\u2019s very surprising that [this conviction] could happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s very much like they tried to do with me. But they didn\u2019t get away with it at all,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s top diplomat, Marco Rubio, said: \u201cThe United States will respond accordingly to this witch-hunt.\u200b\u201d<\/p>\n

At the carnival-style party in Bras\u00edlia, revellers shrugged off those US warnings \u2013 as did Brazil\u2019s foreign ministry which said \u201cthreats like the one made today by [Rubio] \u2026 will not intimidate our democracy\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet them do it,\u201d Vidal said of possible further US pressure. \u201cI think Brazil\u2019s institutions are very solid and we will not cave in to Trump\u2019s sanctions, however powerful his country may be.\u201d<\/p>\n

A carnival parade called the Victory of Democracy Procession is planned in Rio on Friday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands of Brazilians have taken to the streets to rejoice at Jair Bolsonaro\u2019s conviction for plotting a coup,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-420273","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}