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Thousands of Brazilians demand army support to block Lula taking power

Photo: Florian Plaucheur / AFP

| By AFP |

Thousands of Brazilians gathered outside Army barracks in Rio de Janeiro,  Brasilia and other cities on Tuesday demanding the military intervene to prevent leftist president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva taking power next year.

“We want a better Brazil. We don’t want Lula to take charge on January 1, we don’t want a communist country,” bank employee Lais Nunes, 30, told AFP in Rio.

Protesters draped in green and gold waved Brazilian flags and sung the national anthem on what was a bank holiday.

“There is various information that there was electoral fraud … we can’t accept that,” added police officer Leandro de Oliveira, 38, who claimed the national electoral tribunal was responsible for the supposed fraud.

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Supporters of outgoing far-right President Jair Bolsonaro have alleged fraud surrounding the electronic voting system that has been used since 1996.

Bolsonaro himself did likewise repeatedly, without providing any supporting evidence.

Brazil’s defense ministry has, however, produced a report dismissing alleged inconsistencies in the electronic results, while international observers also validated the election result.

Lula, who was also president from 2003-10 and left with sky-high approval ratings, won the October 30 run-off with just under 51 percent of the vote compared to Bolsonaro’s 49 percent.

In the capital Brasilia, thousands more gathered at the army’s headquarters with some holding up banners such as “S.O.S Armed Forces” and “Audit at the polls.”

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Security was stepped up in the capital and police restricted access to the area around the presidential palace, parliament and supreme court.

Similar protests took place straight after the second round election last month.

Since then, many people set up a camp outside the army headquarters in Sao Paulo, where there were also protests on Tuesday, as well as in Belo Horizonte.

Apart from a brief speech two days after his defeat, Bolsonaro has remained tight-lipped and a recluse, with his official diary left empty.

He has not only disappeared from public life but also from social media, where he used to be extremely active, even running the majority of his successful 2018 campaign online.

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He is not attending the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, where Brazil is being represented by its top diplomat Carlos Franca.

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International

Paraguay summons Brazilian ambassador over Itaipú espionage scandal

Paraguay summoned the Brazilian ambassador in Asunción on Tuesday to demand “explanations” and called its own representative in Brasília for consultations following Brazil’s acknowledgment of an espionage operation. The Brazilian government, led by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, attributed the operation to the previous administration.

The surveillance effort aimed to uncover Paraguay’s position in now-suspended negotiations with Brazil regarding the pricing of electricity from the binational Itaipú hydroelectric plant, according to reports in the Brazilian press.

The Brazilian government “categorically denied any involvement in the intelligence operation,” stating in a Foreign Ministry communiqué on Monday that the espionage was carried out under former President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration (2019-2023).

“The operation was authorized by the previous government in June 2022 and was annulled by the interim director of the (state intelligence agency) ABIN on March 27, 2023, as soon as the current administration became aware of it,” Brazil’s government asserted.

Paraguay’s Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez announced that Brazilian Ambassador José Antonio Marcondes de Carvalho was summoned “to provide detailed explanations” regarding the operation. Additionally, Paraguay recalled its diplomatic representative in Brasília “to report on aspects related to the intelligence activity conducted by Brazil regarding Paraguay’s government affairs.”

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International

Elon Musk to step down as government advisor, per Trump insiders

President Donald Trump has informed his inner circle that Elon Musk will be stepping down from his role as a government advisor, according to a report by Politico today.

Citing three individuals close to Trump, Politico states that the president is pleased with Musk’s leadership at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), where he has implemented significant budget cuts. However, both have agreed that it is time for Musk to return to his businesses and support Trump from a different position outside the government.

A senior administration official told Politico that Musk will likely maintain an informal advisory role and continue to be an occasional visitor to the White House. Another source warned that anyone thinking Musk will completely disappear from Trump’s circle is “deluding themselves.”

According to the sources, this transition is expected to coincide with the end of Musk’s tenure as a “special government employee,” a temporary status that exempts him from certain ethics and conflict-of-interest regulations. This 130-day period is set to expire in late May or early June.

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International

Milei vows to make Argentina so strong that Falkland Islanders “choose” to join

Argentine President Javier Milei reaffirmed his country’s claim over the Falkland Islands (known as the Islas Malvinas in Argentina) and praised the role of the nation’s armed forces during a ceremony marking the “Veterans and Fallen Soldiers of the Malvinas War Day,” commemorating 43 years since the 1982 conflict with the United Kingdom.

Argentina continues to assert sovereignty over the islands, arguing that Britain unlawfully seized them in 1833.

“If sovereignty over the Malvinas is the issue, we have always made it clear that the most important vote is the one cast with one’s feet. We hope that one day, the Malvinas residents will choose to vote with their feet and join us,” Milei stated.

“That is why we aim to become a global power—so much so that they would prefer to be Argentine, making deterrence or persuasion unnecessary. This is why we have embarked on a path of liberation, working to make Argentina the freest country in the world and once again the nation with the highest GDP per capita on the planet,” he added.

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