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Explosions and one death show extremism remains an imminent threat in Brazil · Global Voices
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Explosions and one death show extremism remains an imminent threat in Brazil · Global Voices

The scene at the Supreme Court building after the explosions. Image: Art by Global Voices on photo by Bruno Peres/Brazil Agency. Used with permission.

Congresswoman Erika Hilton was give a press conference on the latest developments regarding a proposal that could reduce working hours for Brazilians, in the room of the Planalto Palace, the presidential work building, when two explosions were heard on November 13, around 7:30 p.m. Only 500 meters away, a person was lying dead in front of the Supreme Court building in Brasilia, the federal capital of Brazil.

The first explosion came from a parked car next to the Lower House which was loaded with fireworks, bricks and explosives. About 20 seconds later, a second explosion occurred outside the Supreme Court, killing one person. The judges were finishing a session and were asked to leave the building as a safety measure.

The deceased was identified as Francisco Wanderley Luiz, 59. The civil police have named him as the registered owner of the car. He was dressed clothing with images of playing card suits – probably a reference to the archenemy of the comic book character Batman, the joker.

For many in Brasilia, the incident is reminiscent of the invasion and vandalism of the Supreme Court building less than two years ago, the January 8, 2023attempting to force a coup only a week later Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was inaugurated for a third term as president of Brazil.

The attacks of 2023, alongside a second bombing attemptwere the culmination of months of protests after Lula defeated outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro in the 2022 electionswith the former president refusing to recognize the result.

After the attacks, more than 2,000 Bolsonaristasas Bolsonaro supporters are called in Brazil, were arrested. Some were sentenced to 17 years in prison for invading and damaging the public buildings of the Three Powers – the presidential building, the Supreme Court and the National Congress. Bolsonaro himself, who heading to the United States to avoid attending Lula’s inauguration, is currently under investigation for promotion undemocratic acts.

The federal police launched a official investigation to investigate this latest attack. The results have not yet been published.

Who is Francisco Wanderley Luiz?

Authorities are still investigating Francisco Wanderley Luiz and his potential motivation in the attacks. A locksmith by profession, in 2020, it ran for city council of Rio do Sul, a city of approximately 72,500 people in the southern state of Santa Catarina. Luiz, who identified himself as “Tiü França,” was affiliated with the PL, the Liberal Party, which Bolsonaro joined one year later, in 2021.

Brazilian media, such as ICLreported that Luiz had posted threats on his social media in the months leading up to the attack. On August 24, Luiz posted a selfie from the Supreme Court plenary with the caption: “They let the fox into the henhouse” and “You have been warned.”

The same day, he went to the office of parliamentarian Jorge Goetten, a politician affiliated with the Republican Party and member of the party Bolsonaro’s base. The congressman, who said he was not in office when Luiz tried to visit him, said Folha de São Paulo newspaper that he had known Luiz for more than 30 years, and every time they met last year, Luiz seemed “emotionally shaken.”

ICL also mentions screenshots of WhatsApp messages the man sent himself. In one, he wrote: “Let’s play??? Federal police, you have 72 hours to defuse the bomb in the house of the shitty communists.”

The day after the attack, federal police said in a statement press conference that he had been living in Brasilia for three or four months and that the explosives were homemade, but had a high potential for damage. A video shows the man threw what appeared to be small explosives at the Justice statue in front of the Supreme Court and put his head on another, leading to his death.

Federal police said Luiz was in Brasilia in January 2023, but they have not yet confirmed whether he participated in the January 8 attacks. The rented house he lived in, just outside Brasilia, contained more explosives and was covered in graffiti referencing the event.

Long wolf or systemic problem?

While some see the attacks as an act of “lone wolf“, the story is part of a broader context that has been brewing in Brazil for several years. The Director General of the Federal Police, Andrei Passos Rodrigues, confirmed that extremist groups are still active in Brazil:

We did not discard our hipote. I had something to resolve with the lone wolf expression. Even if the action is visibly individual, through this action it is never a person, but it always has a group or ideas of a group or extremisms and radicalisms which arise at the arrival of their crimes.

We do not rule out any hypothesis. I have some reservations about this term “lone wolf”. Even if only one individual is visible, behind this action there is never a single person, but a group or a group’s ideas or extremism and radicalism that lead them to commit the crimes.

Nearly two years after the January 8 attacks and with former President Bolsonaro in charge about to be denounced for his participation, the politicians who support him tried grant amnesty for all those who participated in the attacks. They had tried to negotiate for that during the recent elections for the presidency of the Lower House.

Bolsonaro himself cannot run for any public office until 2030 after being accused of a meeting where he attacked the electoral system and accused him of fraud without presenting any evidence before a group of ambassadors just before the 2022 elections. His the passport is also kept by the federal police due to other related investigations.

Throughout his presidency, former President regularly gave speeches describing the Supreme Court and its justices as enemies. The day after the last attack, on November 14, he issued a statement calling it a “sad episode” and an “isolated incident,” saying it is “time for Brazil to cultivate an appropriate environment so that different ideas can be confronted peacefully.”

Justice Alexander de Moraesresponsible for investigating digital militias, the January 8 attacks, and now the explosions, said The context that led to this latest attack began around the time the infamous cabinet of hatred incited hate speech against Brazilian institutions, their officials and their families. Last year, the judge himself was harassed by Bolsonaristas at a Rome airport while traveling with his family.

This is how it was used in large quantities by a fake man who used the freedom of speech of a criminal. Offending, ameaçar, coacting, in nenhum lugar do mundo it is freedom of expression, it is the crime. This worsened and culminated in the attempt to decredit the institutions on January 8.

It has been inflated under the false guise of a criminal use of freedom of expression. Offending, threatening, coercing, nowhere in the world is this considered freedom of expression; it is a crime. It gained momentum and culminated on January 8 in an attempt to discredit the institutions.

Moraes was also categorically opposed to the possibility of a amnesty agreement. He asserted that an amnesty for criminals would not enable a peace process and that “an amnestied criminal is an unpunished criminal.”

As of this writing, President Lula has not spoken publicly about the attack. He was at the Alvorada Palace, the presidential residence, when the explosions began.

On November 18, Brazil will welcome world leaders to Rio de Janeiro for the G20 Summitan annual gathering of international leaders and stakeholders. Given the attacks, authorities are already considering ways to further strengthen the city’s security system.