In Brazil, a failed “attack” on the Supreme Court, a few days before the G20

A man carrying explosives died Wednesday evening in Brasilia after unsuccessfully trying to enter the building of Brazil’s Supreme Court. A failed “attack” according to the authorities.

First there was the explosion of a car”, then an “individual approached the Federal Supreme Court, tried to enter. He did not succeed and another explosion occurred in front of the door,” explained the vice-governor of Brasilia, Celina Leao. The two detonations occurred within a short period of time around 7:30 p.m. (local time, 10:30 p.m. GMT) and caused no injuries.

At the scene of the explosions, investigators carried out their observations with caution, because the body was still surrounded by explosives fitted with a timer.

According to the first information from the investigation, it could be a “suicide” by evoking the trail of “a lone wolf”. According to a police document published by the GloboNews channel, the man’s name was Francisco Wanderley Luiz. He also owned the car. The deputy governor confirmed that the clues point to him. During local elections in 2020, he was a candidate for the post of municipal councilor under the colors of the Liberal Party of Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right president then in power.

An attempted attack before the G20

This “attack” also takes place in a particular context one week before the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro which welcomes most of the leaders of the main economies of the planet but also the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Wednesday in Brasilia.

And then, this attempted attack targeting a major institution of Brazilian democracy awakens the memory of the far-right riots against the seats of the executive, legislative and judicial branches on this same site in the capital in January 2023. Place des Trois-Pouvoirs brings together the Supreme Court but also the presidential palace and the Parliament. Place which is currently cordoned off and a major security system has been put in place. On January 8, 2023, a week after Lula’s return to power, thousands of supporters of Jair Bolsonaro, defeated in the presidential election at the end of 2022, stormed and ransacked the seats of institutions on this Place des Trois-Pouvoirs. . Moreover, sensitive investigations are still being carried out by Alexandre de Moraes, a powerful judge of the Supreme Court into this alleged “coup d’état” attempt, the spectacle of which recalled the assault on the Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump on January 6, 2021 in the United States.

“There are crazy people everywhere and of all political tendencies,” reacted Wednesday evening on X, Fabio Wajngarten, advisor to Mr. Bolsonaro, after the disclosure of the presumed identity of the attacker. “Making generalizations and amalgamations amounts to villainy and persecution,” he asserted.