International
Bolsonaro gathers thousands of Brazilians in defense of Musk and his battle against the Supreme Court
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro gathered thousands of his supporters this Saturday in São Paulo, where he again attacked the Supreme Court judge who is investigating him and Elon Musk, amid the controversy over the suspension of the social network X.
The far-right leader also fueled the ghost of electoral fraud on Paulista Avenue, which was partially occupied, although with fewer attendees compared to the protest of February 25, which was held at a time when the judicial fence was tightening against him.
Coinciding with Brazil’s Independence Day, the former president (2019-2022) called on Congress to put a brake on Alexandre de Moraes, “that dictator who does more damage to Brazil than (President) Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva himself,” he said.
Bolsonarism raises the tone against the Supreme Court
De Moraes, one of the eleven magistrates of the high court, is currently the number one public enemy of the extreme right that embodies Bolsonaro and in this Saturday’s protest he was the target of all criticism.
In his hands he has several processes in which Bolsonaro appears as investigated, including one for allegedly plotting a coup d’état against Lula and another for spreading false news and seriously attacking democratic institutions.
In that last cause is also Musk. The owner of X and Tesla is suspected of “obstruction of justice”, “criminal organization” and “incitement to crime,” after failing to comply with several court orders that forced him to eliminate profiles suspected of misinformation.
On Paulista Avenue, the face of the South African businessman appeared stamped on several posters with proclamations against the Supreme Court, and specifically against De Moraes, on whom serious disqualifications were poured, such as “criminal”, “censor” and “dictator”.
“They want to censor the truth,” Bolsonaro exclaimed, who was aphonic at the end of a bumpy speech that began demanding that the Police disconnect a sound system that was bothering him near the truck from which he led the act.
Tarcísio de Freitas invited to “not let” freedom die
Previously, the governor of the state of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas, appointed as Bolsonaro’s possible political successor, invited those present to “not let freedom die.”
“We are here to say that there is no censorship or blocking of social networks. We want to pacify this country,” he said in a moderate tone.
More ardent was the intervention of the influential evangelical pastor Silas Malafaia, who financed the demonstration and accused De Moraes of “tearing the Constitution.”
“De Moraes has to be dismissed and go to jail,” he said.
Another of the demands of Bolsonaro and his allies was to demand from Congress an amnesty for the convicts who, on January 8, 2023, stormed the headquarters of the three powers, in Brasilia, to incite a military intervention against Lula.
“Suspending X is taking away our freedom”
The demonstration took place peacefully, except for some isolated incident, such as the throwing of eggs from one of the apartments in the area against the Bolsonaros.
The acolytes of the former head of state dressed in green and yellow colors, and wrapped themselves with flags of Israel and Brazil, which were mixed with posters in which the presidents of Argentina, Javier Milei, and El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, as well as the former US governor Donald Trump, appeared.
Joana Popular, a 35-year-old micro-entrepreneur, traveled 2,000 kilometers from the state of Bahia, Lula’s traditional vote barn, to join the Bolsonaro campaign against the Judiciary.
“Suspending X is taking away our freedom. We can’t let this last,” this former user of Musk’s platform, blocked in Brazil since last Saturday, told EFE.
A few meters away, Renato do Nascimento defines himself as “the Joker (The Joker) on the right.” He comes disguised as the villain of Batman.
“The Supreme is exceeding his powers a lot. They are judicial activists. Musk does well because illegal orders are not fulfilled,” said this 45-year-old merchant.
For his part, Lula led this Saturday the civic-military parade on the occasion of Independence Day, in Brasilia.
Today he did not make any political speech, but the day before he gave one on the national network in which he stressed that his Government will “always be intolerant of anyone, whatever fortune they have, who challenges Brazilian legislation,” in an apparent allusion to Musk.
International
Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links
A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.
Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.
However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.
International
Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”
The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.
“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.
The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.
His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”
International
Miyazaki’s style goes viral with AI but at what cost?
This week, you may have noticed that everything—from historical photos and classic movie scenes to internet memes and recent political moments—has been reimagined on social media as Studio Ghibli-style portraits. The trend quickly went viral thanks to ChatGPT and the latest update of OpenAI’s chatbot, released on Tuesday, March 25.
The newest addition to GPT-4o has allowed users to replicate the distinctive artistic style of the legendary Japanese filmmaker and Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away). “Today is a great day on the internet,” one user declared while sharing popular memes in Ghibli format.
While the trend has captivated users worldwide, it has also highlighted ethical concerns about AI tools trained on copyrighted creative works—and what this means for the livelihoods of human artists.
Not that this concerns OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which has actively encouraged the “Ghiblification”experiments. Its CEO, Sam Altman, even changed his profile picture on the social media platform X to a Ghibli-style portrait.
Miyazaki, now 84 years old, is known for his hand-drawn animation approach and whimsical storytelling. He has long expressed skepticism about AI’s role in animation. His past remarks on AI-generated animation have resurfaced and gone viral again, particularly when he once said he was “utterly disgusted” by an AI demonstration.
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