Bolsonaro may be planning military coup in Brazil, warns former world leaders’ group, World News

Jair Bolsonaro and his allies could prepare a military coup in Brazil, say an influential group of former presidents, prime ministers and leaders of the left.

An open letter alleges that the rallies Bolsonaro supporters are holding on Tuesday pose a threat to democracy and amount to a riot along the lines of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Donald Trump supporters.

Signatories include former Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Yanis Varoufakis, former Greek Finance Minister Jeremy Corbyn, former British Labor leader Fernando Lugo, former Paraguayan President Caroline Lucas, the British Green MP, and Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Argentine Nobel Prize Winner and Human Rights Activist.

Other signatories include Ernesto Samper Pizano, a former President of Colombia, Cori Bush, a member of the House of Representatives of the US Democrats, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the French presidential candidate, and Manon Aubry, the French MEP.

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They point out that Bolsonaro “led an unprecedented military parade through the capital Brasília on August 10 as his allies in Congress pushed for sweeping reforms of the country’s electoral system, which he believes will be critical ahead of next year’s presidential elections”.

The open letter warns: “Members of Congress in Brazil have warned that the September 7th mobilization would negate the uprising in the US Capitol on the 6th of allegations of fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

“We are deeply concerned about the imminent threat to Brazil’s democratic institutions – and we are vigilant to defend them before September 7th and beyond. The Brazilian people have fought for decades to protect democracy from military rule. Bolsonaro mustn’t rob them now. “

In the polls, the right-wing populist leader is still behind the left-wing ex-president Luis Inacio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro told evangelical leaders, “I have three options for my future: arrested, killed, or won.”