BRASILIA – A failed bombing of Brazil’s Supreme Court appears poised to unite Brasilia against far-right radicalism and derail a possible return of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is fighting a court ruling preventing him from participating in the elections.

But such an institutional response would also fuel his supporters’ belief that they are being silenced, further polarizing the country which has seen a surge in political violence since Bolsonaro’s rise in 2018.

The attack, which killed the suicide bomber but caused no other casualties, highlights the extent to which Brazil’s Supreme Court has become the target of far-right anger, driven by a deep sense that the court sought to expel them from the political scene. arena.

It also comes after Donald Trump’s re-election as US president raised hopes among some Bolsonaro supporters that it could help spur their resurgence.

As in the United States, both camps in Brazil believe that democracy is in danger.

Progressives see violence like Wednesday’s bombings as a direct attack on Brazil’s democratic institutions, while the right insists those same institutions are rigging democracy against them.

Following the explosions, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes reiterated that far-right hate speech threatens Brazilian democracy and incites violence, an argument he used to silence some of his most vocal critics. more severe on social networks.

“This is not an isolated incident,” Moraes said Thursday. “This has developed under the false guise of criminal uses of free speech.”

He compared the bombing to the riots that took place in the capital on January 8 last year, when Bolsonaro supporters ransacked the court and other government buildings to protest his electoral defeat to the President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Wednesday’s blasts, which also blew up a car in a congressional parking lot, appear to have strengthened consensus in Congress against a proposal to offer amnesty to participants in violent protests last year.

Highly placed sources from two of Brazil’s largest centrist parties in Congress said the amnesty proposal, which was already beginning to lose steam, now appears dead in the water.

“The possibility of an amnesty for those involved in the January 8 attack, and by extension for Bolsonaro, is over, it is the end of the discussions,” said André Cesar of the consultancy Hold Assessoria Legislativa.

It could also spell the end of Bolsonaro’s hopes of reversing his ban on running for office until 2030 over his baseless attacks on the legitimacy of the 2022 elections.

Any final decision on such an appeal would likely fall to the Supreme Court.

The attack comes as federal police complete an investigation into Bolsonaro’s alleged role in the Jan. 8 riots and a plot to overturn the election results with the support of the military.

“This comes at a terrible time for Bolsonaro,” said Carlos Melo, a political scientist at the Insper school in Sao Paulo, referring to the ongoing criminal complaint.

Bolsonaro, who has denied any wrongdoing and called the criminal investigations a witch hunt, responded to the attacks in a post on

After the strong performance of its allies in the municipal elections and the US elections, Bolsonaro’s party touted its chances of overcoming obstacles to join the 2026 presidential race.

But for now, the bombing appears to have closed ranks in Brasilia against Bolsonaro and his supporters.

This could only fuel tensions further.

“If on the one hand Moraes comes out stronger… the other side of the coin is that you will also have people who become even more radicalized,” said Creomar de Souza, director of political consultancy Dharma. REUTERS