Brazilian leftists, including iconic singer Caetano Veloso, called for nationwide protests this Sunday against efforts by Congress to reduce the jail term of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted over a botched coup plot.
The country’s conservative-majority Congress on Wednesday approved a bill that could slash Bolsonaro’s 27-year sentence if it passes into law.
The call for protests Sunday in cities around the country spread on social media, with the hashtags “no amnesty” and “Congress, enemy of the people.”
“Let’s return Congress to the people,” read a post shared by Veloso, 83, calling for a second round of a “musical protest” he led in September on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach alongside some of the biggest names in Brazilian music.
Bolsonaro’s supporters in the conservative-majority Congress had for months weighed different options to ease his punishment, including a possible amnesty that fizzled out after the September protests.
The sentence reduction bill resurfaced this week, a few days after Bolsonaro anointed his son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, as his successor ahead of 2026 presidential elections.
Flavio said last Sunday he would be willing to withdraw his candidacy in exchange for an amnesty for his father, pointing to disarray among Brazil’s powerful conservative movement ahead of next year’s vote.
A protest called after Bolsonaro’s jailing in Brasilia gathered only a few dozen people.
The far-right Bolsonaro was imprisoned in November after his conviction for a scheme to stop President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 election.
The plot allegedly involved a plan to assassinate Lula, his vice president Geraldo Alckmin and Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes.
Prosecutors said the scheme failed only due to a lack of support from military top brass.
“Reducing the sentence for murderers is unacceptable,” Edinho Silva, the president of Lula’s Worker’s Party (PT) said in a video on Instagram.
“They approved the reduction of sentences for those who planned and tried to carry out a coup against democracy,” he said.
“Let’s go to the streets...to protect what is essential to democracy.”
The bill still needs to pass through the Senate, and while Lula could veto it, this can be overturned on its final passage through the chamber of deputies.
Protests were being called in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, the capital Brasilia, and around 10 other cities.
fb/acb
