On January 8, tens of thousands of protesters who backed Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right former president of Brazil, stormed the country's Congress, Supreme Court, and p

On January 8, tens of thousands of protesters who backed Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right former president of Brazil, stormed the country's Congress, Supreme Court, and presidential offices.

Supporters of the deposed far-right president Jair Bolsonaro had set up camp outside the Brazilian Army's headquarters for the previous ten weeks, demanding that the military annul the election results from October. It is important to note that  the administration offered no opposition to the demonstrators throughout the previous ten weeks.

The majority of the camp's residents eventually abandoned their tents in the nation's capital of Brasilia on Sunday, drove a short distance, and then joined hordes of other demonstrators in storming Congress, the Supreme Court, and the presidential buildings. However, The authorities started clearing out the camp by Monday morning. 1,200 demonstrators were arrested and taken away in buses for questioning. Their banners, flags and tent were they torn down.

Ibaneis Rocha, the governor of Brasilia, and his appointees were accused by some in the federal government of being careless or complicit in understaffing the security personnel manning the protests.

The upheaval "could only occur with the permission, and even effective participation, of the security and intelligence institutions," according to Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who banned Mr. Rocha from his position as governor for at least 90 days late Sunday.

Many analysts pointed to striking similarities between the attack at the US Capitol two years back and the one at Brasília. Infact after a few days following the US capitol attack David Nemer a Brazilian professor and expert on disinformation predicted the same would happen in Brazil.

Nemer claimed that his forecast was not the work of a seer but rather was based on research into the close and expanding ties between the hard right in the US and Brazil, which were formed around the Trump and Bolsonaro families and their entourages.

Supporters of Mr. Bolsonaro on ther other hand denied the charge cliaming that they were in no way involved in the incident, hadn't looted the structures. They claimed that those responsible for the destruction were actually radical leftists out to discredit their movement.

Whatever security lapses there may have been, the incident on Sunday shockingly exposed the main problem threatening Brazil's democracy. 

The attacks on Sunday were different from other coup attempts in Latin America's history since they were motivated by mass delusion rather than a single strongman dictator or a military looking to seize control.

Despite expert audits and assessments revealing nothing of the sort, millions of Brazilians seem to believe that Mr. Bolsonaro was the victim of a fraud in the country's presidential election in October. These opinions are partly the result of years' worth of conspiracy theories, deceptive claims, and outright lies propagated by Mr. Bolsonaro and his followers, who claimed that Brazil's fully electronic voting systems were replete with fraud.

Nemer, a media studies professor at the University of Virginia, noted that the narrative that was prevalent on social media in the US was also present in WhatsApp and Telegram groups in Brazil. For instance, two years before Brazil's presidential election, 

Bolsonaro and his followers began spreading the myth that the country's voting machines were manipulated.

Even a summary of the presidential election in Brazil in 2022 reads like a summary of the one in the United States in 2020: a far-right populist incumbent with a penchant for insults and spontaneous tweets against a septuagenarian challenger on the left running on his established political track record and a promise to unify a divided nation.

There wouldn't be a Bolsonaro in Brazil if there wasnt any Trump in the USA

. The invasion we witnessed yesterday would not have occurred if there had not been an invasion of the Capitol”, according to Guga Chacra, an analyst for Brazil's major television network who is based in New York and follows politics in both nations. "Bolsonarismo attempts to imitate Trumpism, and Bolsonaro backers in Brazil attempt to imitate what Trump backers do in the United States."

During his final days in office, Mr. Bolsonaro declared in a recorded speech that he had attempted and failed to use the legislation to void the 2022 election and advised his followers to go on. He stated, "Either we live in a democracy or we don't." Nobody desires an adventure. 

He denounced the violence in a message on Twitter on Sunday.

However, analysts blame his years of rhetoric attacking Brazil's democratic institutions as well as his political ploy of making his supporters fear the left had already irreparably damaged Brazil's democratic institutions.

Recent protester interviews gave the impression that the movement was growing beyond Mr. Bolsonaro. 

Many right-wing Brazilians now have firmly held opinions that political elites manipulated the election to instal Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as president

. They see Lula da Silva as a communist who will turn Brazil into an authoritarian state similar to Venezuela.

After the events in Brasilia, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, also known as "Lula," who was elected on January 1 of this year stated that he believe that Bolsonaro is at least partially to blame for what transpired in the Brazilian capital.

What Drove Brazil’s Failed Coup?

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