The vigil for Bolsonaro: “Our only weapon is prayer”

Already at night, under a spectacular almost full moon that looks splendid in the sky over Brasilia, they have gathered to celebrate a vigil. The place could not be more soulless. A lot at the foot of a road through which cars that leave the capital of Brazil to the outskirts circulate at full speed. The group – a 70 people – is here because one of the most crucial weeks begins in the life of Jair Messias Bolsonaro, 70. The Supreme Court will issue a sentence for the coup attempt of which it is accused with seven collaborators. The distrust of those present in earthly justice is absolute. They trust divine justice, in a miracle. “Our only weapon is prayer, a very powerful weapon,” says María Eunice, a 64 -year -old retired biologist.

The vigil is celebrated here because the ultra -rightist is near. The urbanization where he lives is on the other side of the roundabout. The former president has been in house arrest for a month in the villa where he lives with his family. As a warning for drivers, the Bolsonaristas have placed a green phosphorite banner: “Bolsonaro, return. Touches the horn.” A few play the horn, most accelerate way home after a long day.

Those gathered form a semicircle next to a bus from whose roof a man preaches to full volume. In the middle, a Bolsonaro natural size silhouette so that whoever wants to take a picture, and on the floor, a Brazilian flag. On one side, someone prays with a flag of Israel on the back. Some women raise their hands to heaven, as in evangelical cults. Some have brought the Bible. Bolsononarista fashion, many carry flags from Brazil as a layer, or selection t -shirts. Two steps, a demure Canosa woman announces to a team of television journalists that if the judges condemn the former president “there will be a revolution.”

María Eunice shows on her mobile the stamp that was made with the Bolsonaro of cardboard. “I am convinced that it will be acquitted. If they condemn it it will be a spectacular international shame because there is not a single test,” he says, echoing the main thesis of the former president’s defense.

Mrs. Ángela María, 78, a retired professor, account, wrapped in a US flag, which has been for the final stretch of trial, last week. “We come to give Bolsonaro) spiritual strength to support these pests.” He insists that those who send in Brazil “want it out of play at any price because they know that if it is (on the ballot) wins.”

While some Bolsononians battal for their leader with prayers, their political allies heat the environment with appeals and maneuvers so that Congress approves an amnesty.

For the followers of the former president this Monday has been a hangover day after the demonstrations in which this Sunday they congregated about 85,000 people at the beach of Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, and on the main avenue of São Paulo. The most shocking, next to the clamor in favor of a generalized amnesty for all those convicted of coup, a gigantic American flag deployed by the protesters gathered on the Day of Independence of Brazil. A thanks to a foreign president who just punished the country with 50% tariffs to burst the trial.

The intervention, on Sunday, of the favorite to take over from Bolsonaro at the head of the Brazilian right, the governor of São Paulo, Tarcisio de Freitas, was one of the themes of the day. With a moderate reputation, compared to his political mentor, Freitas dedicated a good part of his words to attack the Supreme Court. He accused Judge Alexandre de Moraes of being a dictator and a tyrant.

This Tuesday, when the Supreme Court resumes the definitive phase of the trial, Moraes will be the first of the five judges to announce whether to consider Bolsonaro and his alleged innocent or guilty accomplices.