(C) Common Dreams
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Brazilian Authorities Arrested the Rioters. Now They Are Arresting Security Officials. [1]

['Ana Ionova', 'André Spigariol', 'Jack Nicas']

Date: 2023-01-10

Both Mr. Dino and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva have said that they believe prominent players in the country’s powerful agriculture industry, which largely backed Mr. Bolsonaro in the election, played a role.

“These people were there today, the agribusiness,” Mr. Lula said after the attacks, adding that “all these people will be investigated, found out, and will be punished.”

The moves highlighted the growing scope of the hunt to identify the ideological, logistical and financial architects of Sunday’s chaos, the worst attack on Brazil’s institutions since a military dictatorship ended in 1985.

Many people who participated in the riots had been camped out for weeks outside the Army headquarters in Brasília, espousing the false claim that October’s election was stolen and calling for the military to step in. Military and independent experts found no credible evidence of voter fraud in the election, in which Mr. Lula, a leftist former president, defeated Mr. Bolsonaro. Mr. Lula took office on Jan. 1.

While Mr. Bolsonaro had for years asserted, without evidence, that Brazil’s election systems were plagued by fraud, after the election he authorized the transition of power to Mr. Lula. Mr. Bolsonaro, who has been in the United States since before the inauguration, criticized the rioters on Sunday, saying that peaceful demonstrations were part of democracy but the “destruction and invasions of public buildings” was not.

In the wake of the riot, investigators are grappling with difficult questions about why rioters were able to enter federal government buildings so easily — and whether security authorities were blindsided, negligent or somehow complicit.

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[1] Url: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/10/world/americas/brazil-bolsonaro-riot.html

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