Brazil’s Bolsonaro gathers supporters to show strength amid coup probe

Bolsonaro had his passport confiscated and was accused of editing a draft decree to overturn election results, pressuring military chiefs to join a coup attempt and plotting to jail a Supreme Court justice after his electoral loss to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in 2022.

Supporters of Bolsonaro, a populist often likened to former President Donald Trump, invaded and ransacked Brazil’s presidential palace, Supreme Court and Congress calling for a military coup on Jan. 8, 2023, a week after Lula took office.

Bolsonaro on Sunday denied the accusations and said he was being “persecuted,” adding that the draft decree was based on the constitution. He also called for amnesty for people who took part in the Jan. 8 riot.

“A coup is putting tanks on the streets, weapons, conspiracy. That did not happen in Brazil,” Bolsonaro said. “What I want is pacification. To erase the past and find a way for us to live in peace.”

The far-right leader gave his speech on top of a truck surrounded by supporters dressed in green and yellow, many of whom also carried Israeli flags.

Lula is in the middle of a diplomatic spat with Israel over comments in which he likened Israel’s war in Gaza to the Nazi genocide during World War II.

Bolsonaro, who said last week that the leftist president’s remarks were “criminal,” also unfurled an Israeli flag.