Brazil election-denying ‘terrorists’ threaten Lula inauguration, minister says

‘The rule of law is not compatible with these political militias’

Anti-bomb police use a robot to deal with the explosive device in Brasilia on 24 December REUTERS/Adriano Machado (REUTERS)

Election-denying protesters camping outside army bases in Brazil have become “incubators of terrorism,” the country’s new justice minister has said after police detonated an explosive device and arrested a suspect.

“Yesterday’s serious events … prove that the so-called ‘patriotic’ camps have become incubators for terrorists,” tweeted Flavio Dino, the incoming minister. “There will be no amnesty for terrorists, their supporters and financiers.”

Supporters of Jair Bolsonaro have been camped outside army bases in Brazil for weeks, urging the military to overturn the victory of leftist Luiz Inacio ‘Lula’ da Silva, who takes office on 1 January.

Dino said arrangements for Lula’s inauguration would be “re-evaluated, with a view to tightening security.”

In another tweet, Dino said he would propose the creation of “special groups to combat terrorism and irresponsible weaponry. The rule of law is not compatible with these political militias.”

News of the bomb – in the capital, Brasilia – added a new dimension to post-election violence across the country, where tensions remain high after the most fraught election in a generation.

Indigenous people supporting Jair Bolsonaro protest in front of the Supreme Court in Brasilia on Sunday (REUTERS)

Bolsonaro, who has yet to concede defeat, has made baseless claims about the credibility of Brazil’s voting system, and many of his hardcore supporters believe him. The head of Brazil’s electoral court last month rejected a complaint from Bolsonaro’s allies challenging the presidential election.

The camp outside the army headquarters in Brasilia has become one of the country’s most extreme. On 12 December, the day Lula’s victory was certified, some of the camp dwellers attacked the federal police headquarters in the city.

Robson Candido, head of the city’s civil police, said a 54-year-old man from the northeastern state of Para had been arrested and confessed to planting the device in a fuel truck near the airport in order to sow chaos.

"He came to participate in the protests, outside the army headquarters, and he’s part of that movement that supports the current president," Candido told reporters. "They’re on that mission, which according to them is ideological, but which has got out of control."

Indigenous supporters of outgoing Jair Bolsonaro gather after an attempted invasion of the Supreme Court building in Brasilia on Sunday (AP)

Police also found assault-style rifles and other explosives at an apartment rented by the man in Brasilia. Candido said the suspect was a registered gun-owner, known as a CAC, a group that has swelled sixfold to nearly 700,000 people since Bolsonaro was elected in 2018 and began loosening gun laws.

Candido said the man, and those helping him, had tried to activate the explosive device, but it had not gone off. He said it was still unclear how many other people were involved.

“We’ve never had bombs here in Brazil,” he said.