More than 3 million Brazilians filled the streets this week to protest the presidential election.
QUICK FACTS:
- On Thursday the Supreme Court in Brazil ordered that banks freeze the funds of at least 42 agricultural entrepreneurs supporting President Jair Bolsonaro.
- Supreme Court Minister Alexandre de Moraes made the order due to the businessmen’s suspected cooperation with the massive protests that have been taking place for weeks in response to what many believe was a stolen election.
- “The list was made by the Federal Police and the Federal Highway Police at the request of Moraes himself, upon receiving the news that 115 trucks had moved to Brasília, with the aim of reinforcing the acts, at the headquarters of the Army’s General Headquarters (QC). The decision was forwarded to the Central Bank last Saturday,” an international media outlet reported.
- “In the decision, the minister stated that the rights to strike and assemble are guaranteed by the Federal Constitution. However, he said that the acts carried out since the first week of November are ‘anti-democratic’ and ‘illegal.'”
SUPREME COURT’S PREVIOUS MOVES:
- The nation’s supreme court previously moved to further support the leftist candidate, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who many believe stole the election, by assisting him in removing the Minister of Defense, General Paulo Sergio Nogueira.
- O Antagonista reported on Wednesday that Moraes had sent a request from Deputy Judge Marcelo Calero to the Attorney General’s Office to remove the Minister of Defense.
- The Ministry of Defense filed an unflattering report about the recent election on October 30, offering more support for the frustration in the nation’s election process.
BACKGROUND:
- A report reached the United States earlier this month that Brazilian government officials said they can’t promise their election wasn’t tampered with due to the way the election was administered, American Faith reported.
- “It is not feasible to guarantee that the programs that were executed in the electronic voting machines are free from malicious insertions,” Brazil’s Ministry of Defense said in reply to an audit report.
- The official was responding to outrage after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro allegedly lost his reelection to leftist candidate Lula da Silva, despite Bolsonaro’s massive popularity.
