BrazilianDemocracy

Quora Answer : Why are the repeated threats of military coup by Brazilian generals so downplayed in the media? Is Brazil still a democracy?

Apr 4, 2018

It's teetering on the brink :

The last elected President was removed by impeachment. When the legislators who impeached her were given a chance to explain why they were impeaching her in their speeches, the majority openly gave political reasons rather than referring to the alleged crime she was meant to have committed. When offered the chance to impeach the now acting president (previously vice-president) who had been elected on the same ticket (and with the same flawed campaign), they decided not to. Both of these suggest strongly that the impeachment was not motivated by legal issues but that they took advantage of legal technicalities for political motives.

Rio de Janeiro was recently put under martial law, with elected representatives sidelined in favour of generals.

A prominent populist politician from Rio who represented the favelas and was very critical of the martial law was gunned down in the streets a couple of weeks ago. No one has been found and charged with her murder. To be fair, the clear up rate for murder is very low in Brazil in general. But it's also obvious that a politician who has been critical of the military can't rely on the police / state security to protect her life.

The previous president, who is still far ahead in the opinion polls for the next election, is accused of corruption and if found guilty by the supreme court will be taken out of the election. The case is heavily disputed. My take on the legal case is : Phil Jones (He / Him)'s answer to Lula has a lot of corruption accusations by the mainstream media in Brazil. Is there any proof of it? There is, what can only be described as a "desperation" by much of the political establishment not to let Lula run again (as he would win). This general's pronouncement (linked in the question) is part of that pattern. What is clear is that the likelihood is that the presidential candidate preferred by the majority of Brazilian voters will be prevented from standing, based on fairly flimsy evidence.

Any citizen of any country should be concerned by Generals threatening military intervention. Especially in Brazil where the last one led to over 21 years of military dictatorship, torture and murder of political dissidents, and established the pattern of corruption that Brazil still suffers from.

The media doesn't make a fuss about it, however, because it is invested in preventing Lula become president again, and is prepared to sacrifice democracy to that end.

Quora Answer : Is Brazil a democracy if Lula is not allowed to be a candidate when the majority of the country wants to vote for him to be the president?

Aug 12, 2018

It's still a democracy, but it's a flawed one (like many).

Opponents of Lula believe that he has legitimately been found guilty, of corruption and that the prohibition on standing is valid.

Supporters of Lula (who are still the majority in the opinion polls) believe he has been imprisoned on trumped up charges by a corrupt judiciary, deliberately to prevent him contesting an election he would otherwise win.