news

The International Antifascist in Uruguay has expressed its most energetic rejection of the visit of the ultra-rightist and former opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who will meet with the president of that South American country Luis Lacalle Pou.

“That our current president and government join this destabilizing campaign is not surprising, considering that they already participated in the operation by not recognizing the elected president Nicolás Maduro (This resulted in the severing of diplomatic relations between Uruguay and Venezuela),” the Uruguayan Chapter of the Antifascist International stated.

“Edmundo González, former right-wing opposition candidate from Venezuela, has been posing as a democratic leader and since 2015 has been attacking Venezuelan democracy and institutions, encouraging coups d’état, sanctions, military invasion, violence, destabilization, migration and death,” says the organisation.

In addition, the Antifascist International in Uruguay highlighted that Urrutia have been denounced by his links with the murder and disappearance of priests during the Salvadoran dictatorship in 1980, and today “he serves as a political operator serving the interests of US imperialism.”

The organization also recalls that in the last elections of July 28 in Venezuela, Urrutia was part of the electoral coup against president Nicolás Maduro, unaware of the results of the Electoral Power, signed a letter as “president-elect”, urged the armed forces to carry out a coup d’état, validated and disseminated a fraudulent website with false results and records that it never presented to the Supreme Court of Justice hearings.

“The hegemonic media are complicit and join in the coup propaganda campaign, spreading false news, covering up the violent actions of the Venezuelan ultra-right and never showing who Edmundo González Urrutia really is, their intentions and their trajectory,” denounces the Antifascists.

About the Urrutia’s recent visits to Argentina and his plans to travel to Dominican Republic and Panama, the organisation stated that heads to seek international support, particularly targeting his ideological and strategic allies, such as Javier Milei in Argentina and Luis Lacalle Pou in Uruguay.

His visit coincides with the inauguration of Nicolás Maduro as the re-elected president of Venezuela on January 10 and aims to coordinate a campaign to destabilize and question the Venezuelan elections and its system of government, Provocations have been planned to undermine a legitimate government, which falls within the framework of the Monroe Doctrine that seeks intervention in Latin America, regarded as America’s backyard—a rhetoric that Donald Trump has revived.

The organisation made a call to the Yamandu Orsi’s incoming government to not engage in coup operations or meddle in the internal affairs of other nations and will advocate for respect for nations’ right to self-determination, as well on the popular movement across our continent to organize in unity to uphold Eduardo Galeano’s maxim: our north should be the south.

The destruction caused by Bolsonaro protesters, advocates of a coup d'état, at the headquarters of the Three Branches of Government in Brasilia, turned two years old on Wednesday (8). And to remember the seriousness of the episodes and reinforce the importance of democracy, the President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), held a ceremony at the Planalto Palace with the participation of authorities.

“We're still here,” said the president in reference to the film by Walter Salles, based on the book of the same name by Marcelo Rubens Paiva. He continued. “We are here to say that we are alive and that democracy is alive, contrary to the plans of a coup plot on January 8, 2023. We are here, women and men, from different backgrounds, beliefs, parties and ideologies, united by a common cause. We are here to say loud and clear: dictatorship never again, democracy always”, said Lula.

Earlier, offhandedly, the president called those behind the coup attempt “a bunch of aloprados” and referred to the plan that involved the assassination of himself, then vice-president-elect Geraldo Alckimin, and the then president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Minister Alexandre de Moraes.

“I escaped an attempt together with 'Xandão' and Alckimin,” he said, joking about the nickname attributed to the Supreme Court minister Alexandre de Moraes, and the Vice-President Geraldo Alckimin. “I wonder, if their coup attempt had succeeded, what would happen in this country? They were thinking of killing the president of the Electoral Court, the vice-president of the Republic and me, and we managed to escape,” said Lula.

In addition to the government ministers and First Lady Janja Silva, the heads of the Armed Forces were present: Army Commander General Tomás Paiva, Air Force Commander Brigadier Marcelo Damasceno and Navy Commander Admiral Marcos Olsen. The senator and vice-president of the Federal Senate, Veneziano Vital do Rêgo (MDB-PB) attended on behalf of Congress, and the vice-president of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), Justice Edson Fachin, represented the Court.

Justices Carmen Lúcia, president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) and Herman Benjamin, who presides over the Superior Court of Justice (TSJ) were also present, as well as Alexandre de Moraes and the dean of the STF, Gilmar Mendes. The governors of Rio Grande do Norte, Fátima Bezerra, Ceará, Elmano de Freitas, and Bahia, Jerônimo Rodrigues, also attended the event.

Edson Fachin read a letter from the president of the Supreme Court, Luís Roberto Barroso, who is traveling abroad. “Remembering this date is also an effort to turn the page, but without tearing it out of history, institutional maturity demands accountability for deviations of this nature. At the same time, however, we are here to reiterate our democratic values, our belief in pluralism and the feeling of fraternity,” read the words of Barroso, who advocated punishment for the crimes of January 8.

“Democracy is the regime of tolerance, of difference, of pluralism, of dissent, but it is not a right guaranteed by the Constitution to attack the conditions of existence of democracy itself. Violence is outside this pact and must be sanctioned, according to our legitimate Constitution,” Barroso wrote.

The president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), who is also out of the country, released a note on the two-year anniversary of what he considered “criminal attacks against the buildings of the Three Powers and our democracy” and reaffirmed the importance of Wednesday's actions. “I congratulate the federal government and all the institutions involved in the ceremonies that reinforce the vigil in defense of the regime that I consider to be the fairest and most equitable in popular and social representation,” he wrote.

After the ceremony inside the Planalto Palace, President Lula and the authorities present went down the ramp to meet the pro-democracy demonstrators who had gathered in the Three Powers Square. The demonstration was called by popular movements and political parties that are part of the Peoples Without Fear and Popular Brazil fronts. Ceres Hadich, from the national leadership of the Landless Rural Workers' Movement (MST), highlighted the symbolism of Wednesday's actions after two years of the biggest attacks on institutions and the Brazilian people.

“We are present, we are united, and we are going to defend democracy in our country today and always, as an important step towards defending a popular project for our country. It is a determination of political action by the government itself and by the people not to accept attacks on our democracy and attacks on what has been so hard built over the years by the Brazilian people,” said Hadich.

At various points during the event, people chanted slogans against amnesty for the crimes committed on January 8, 2023, which are currently before Congress. “We came here to reaffirm our commitment to democracy, to embrace democracy, and to say no to amnesty. We defend the need to respect the due process of law, the presumption of innocence, but we must punish all those who undermined democracy and destroyed Brazilian heritage,” said Anderson Amaro, from the Small Farmers' Movement (MPA).

Federal deputy Tarcísio Motta (Psol-RJ) said that the party's bench remains firmly opposed to any initiative that seeks to amnesty the acts of January 8 and that it will demand a clear position on the issue from the next president of the House. “We're going to have this debate, including during the debates for the election of the Speaker of the House, so that we can even get Hugo Motta [favorite candidate for Speaker] to commit to not moving forward with these projects. Amnesty is unacceptable,” he said. “Brazilian justice needs to hold people accountable, respecting everyone's right to a full defense, but these people need to be held accountable. There can be no amnesty for an attempted coup in the midst of democracy. They need to be held accountable so that it is never forgotten and never happens again,” said the Psolista (Socialism and Liberty Party).

The attacks of January 8, 2023 in the Three Powers Square led to the arrest of at least 1,430 people. According to information from the STF, 310 people were convicted of involvement in the coup, 229 for carrying out the acts and 81 for inciting them. The sentences range from 15 to 17 years in prison, for crimes of armed criminal association, qualified damage, deterioration of listed heritage, violent abolition of the democratic rule of law and attempted coup d'état. Another 500 people signed a non-prosecution agreement and their cases were closed, according to a survey by the Attorney General's Office.