Bolsonaro, Jair (1955- )

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      Your Monday Briefing: China Reopens

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      Also, Brazilians storm government offices and the Times investigates a 2021 Kabul airstrike.People embraced at Beijing’s international arrivals gate yesterday.Noel Celis/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesChina reopensFamilies across the world are preparing for reunions after China fully opened its borders yesterday and began welcoming visitors without strict quarantine requirements.The reopening comes at an auspicious time for global tourism. China is also allowing its citizens to once again go overseas, just as the travel period for Lunar New Year begins.But unease has tempered the celebratory mood. Some countries fear that China’s outbreak could lead to new mutations of the virus and added additional restrictions for incoming travelers. And within China, there are fears that rural villages, which have a disproportionate number of older adults and scant access to medical care, are particularly at risk as domestic travel increases.Here are more specific restrictions:The E.U. “strongly encouraged” its 27 members to put in place testing and masking requirements as Chinese return to popular cities there.Hong Kong capped the daily number of visitors at 60,000 people. It will require visitors to show a negative P.C.R. test.South Korea halted all direct flights to Jeju Island, once favored by Chinese tourists. Travelers have to take a P.C.R. test when they arrive in Seoul and quarantine if they are found to be sick.Japan is requiring visitors to provide proof of a negative P.C.R. test before arriving and to take another test when they arrive.Thailand is anticipating around 300,000 Chinese visitors in the first three months of 2023. But it will still require visitors to have two vaccine shots. They will also need to have medical insurance to cover Covid treatment if they get sick.Supporters of Jair Bolsonaro stormed Brazil’s Congress building yesterday.Eraldo Peres/Associated PressProtesters storm Brazil’s governmentAngry supporters of Jair Bolsonaro charged into Brazil’s Congress and presidential offices yesterday afternoon. This is a developing story. Here are live updates.Dozens of protesters streamed into the presidential offices. Some held a barricade to hold back police and allow more protesters to enter. Inside the building, the protesters could be seen attempting to build more barricades with chairs. Outside, a crowd using sticks or poles struck a police officer on horseback, pulling him off his horse, according to video posted to social media.The action was the violent culmination of incessant rhetorical attacks by Bolsonaro and his supporters against the nation’s electoral systems. The protesters believe the election was stolen from Bolsonaro. In reality, two months ago, he lost his re-election bid for the presidency.Details: President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who defeated Bolsonaro in October and took office on Jan. 1, was in São Paulo. Congress was not in session. Both Congress and the presidential offices were largely empty.Bolsonaro: He has been staying in Florida, where he traveled late last month as his presidency was coming to a close.A week after a Times visual investigation, the U.S. military admitted to a tragic mistake in the strike.By The New York Times. Video frame: Nutrition & Education International.A flawed Kabul drone strikeMy colleague Azmat Khan obtained new information about a botched U.S. drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, in August 2021 that killed 10 civilians, including an aid worker and seven children, in the courtyard of their family home.Analysts saw possible civilian casualties minutes after the drone fired a missile, according to an official U.S. military investigation — 66 partially redacted pages that The Times obtained through a lawsuit. The analysts also assessed that children had been killed.The information was then shared with top commanders, according to the investigation. But military officials at the time issued misleading statements about their assessments, saying that there were “no indications” of civilian casualties.Pentagon officials also maintained that an ISIS target had been killed in the strike, even as evidence mounted to the contrary. Only after The Times published an investigation did military officials acknowledge that the aid worker had posed no threat and had no connection to ISIS.Analysis: The investigation provides detailed examples of how assumptions and biases led to the deadly blunder. Military analysts wrongly concluded that a package contained explosives and that a car’s “erratic route” was evidence that the driver was trying to evade surveillance.THE LATEST NEWSAsia PacificJack Ma’s retreat comes as the ruling Communist Party wages an unprecedented crackdown on Big Tech.Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesAnt Group, one of China’s most influential tech titans, said Jack Ma, its founder, planned to relinquish control.An executive for the Indian subsidiary of Wells Fargo was arrested after being accused of urinating on another passenger on an Air India flight.Naomi Osaka withdrew from the Australian Open.Around the WorldKevin McCarthy’s fight to become House speaker was the longest since just before the Civil War.Haiyun Jiang/The New York TimesAfter 15 rounds of voting, Kevin McCarthy is now the U.S. House speaker.Iran hanged two men who had participated in anti-government protests. At least nine more people remain at risk of execution.At least 40 people were killed when two buses collided in Senegal.Damar Hamlin, who went into cardiac arrest during a football game, is breathing on his own and has spoken to teammates.The War in UkraineA volunteer Chechen battalion trained last month outside of Kyiv.David Guttenfelder for The New York TimesEthnic-based battalions and regiments with historical grievances against Russia have been fighting for Ukraine.Despite its pledge of a truce, Russia shelled Bakhmut on Friday.Germany, France and the U.S. have offered Ukraine new armored vehicles, a move that analysts say signals their support for future offensives.A Morning ReadSeniors lined up for food-aid vouchers in Hong Kong.Lam Yik Fei for The New York TimesAcross East Asia, populations are graying faster than anywhere else in the world. As a result, governments are struggling to pay out pensions, and people in their 70s need jobs.“As long as my body lets me, I need to keep working,” said a 73-year-old who wakes at 1:30 a.m. to deliver produce to restaurants across Tokyo.Lives lived: Two months after the armistice that ended the Korean War, a North Korean Air Force officer flew his Soviet-made MIG to an airfield in South Korea manned by U.S. forces. A year later, he had a new name — Kenneth Rowe — and was living in the U.S. Rowe died last month at 90.ARTS AND IDEASSeoul’s art explosionThe first Frieze Seoul featured 120 exhibitors.Lets Studio, via FriezeWhen it comes to the global art market, South Korea remains a minor player. Its art sales in 2021 totaled about $726 million, according to a report. For comparison, China’s sales came in around $13 billion, and auction turnover in Hong Kong was $1.7 billion.But while South Korea may still be on the rise in the contemporary art world, a sense of possibility permeates the air. About 80 percent of the country’s art museums — more than 200 — were established after 2000. Art dealers and foreign galleries have descended. Last fall, South Korea’s capital even hosted Frieze Seoul, the fair’s first installment in Asia, which has editions in London, New York and Los Angeles.And the government is invested. It has been providing grants to artists and dealers in an effort to generate a hallyu, or “Korean wave,” which has propelled K-pop and Korean cinema to worldwide prominence.“Twenty years from now, if the country is as rich as it is right now,” a dealer said, “I think it can be like London or New York.”PLAY, WATCH, EATWhat to CookChristopher Simpson for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.For a no-fuss, one-pot weeknight dinner, make cheesy chicken Parmesan meatballs.What to ReadJanet Malcolm’s final book, the brief “Still Pictures,” may well be the journalist’s most personal.What to Watch“M3gan” is “a ludicrous, derivative and irresistible killer-doll movie,” our critic writes.WeddingsFor dayslong South Asian nuptials, some guests are turning to rented clothing.Now Time to PlayPlay the Mini Crossword, and a clue: Up to this point (three letters).Here are the Wordle and the Spelling Bee.You can find all our puzzles here.That’s it for today’s briefing. See you next time. — AmeliaP.S. David French is joining Times Opinion as a columnist.Start your week with this narrated long read about a teenager who survived an airplane crash in the Amazon. And here’s Friday’s edition of “The Daily,” on an agreement to protect biodiversity.You can reach Amelia and the team at briefing@nytimes.com. More

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      Lula asume la presidencia de Brasil, con Bolsonaro en Florida

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      Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva tomó posesión como el nuevo presidente de Brasil. Mientras tanto, el expresidente Jair Bolsonaro, quien enfrenta investigaciones, se refugia en Orlando.El presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva tomó las riendas del gobierno brasileño el domingo en una elaborada toma de posesión, que contó con una caravana de automóviles, un festival de música y cientos de miles de seguidores que llenaron la explanada central de Brasilia, la capital del país.Pero faltaba una persona clave: Jair Bolsonaro, el presidente saliente de extrema derecha.Se suponía que Bolsonaro iba a entregar a Lula la banda presidencial el domingo, un símbolo importante de la transición pacífica del poder en un país donde mucha gente aún recuerda los 21 años de una dictadura militar que terminó en 1985.En cambio, Bolsonaro se despertó el domingo a miles de kilómetros de distancia, en una casa alquilada propiedad de un luchador profesional de artes marciales mixtas a unos cuantos kilómetros de Disney World. Enfrentado a varias investigaciones por su gestión, Bolsonaro voló a Orlando el viernes por la noche y planea permanecer en Florida durante al menos un mes.Bolsonaro cuestionó durante meses la confiabilidad de los sistemas electorales de Brasil, sin pruebas, y cuando perdió en octubre, se negó a reconocerlo inequívocamente. En una especie de discurso de despedida el viernes, rompiendo semanas de un silencio casi absoluto, dijo que trató de impedir que Lula asumiera el cargo, pero fracasó.“Dentro de las leyes, respetando la Constitución, busqué una salida”, dijo. Luego pareció animar a sus partidarios a seguir adelante. “Vivimos en una democracia o no vivimos”, dijo. “Nadie quiere una aventura”.Una multitud de simpatizantes saluda a la comitiva del presidente de Brasil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, y su esposa, Rosângela da Silva, tras su toma de posesión en Brasilia el domingo.Dado Galdieri para The New York TimesEl domingo, Lula subió la rampa de acceso a las oficinas presidenciales con un grupo diverso de brasileños, entre ellos una mujer negra, un hombre discapacitado, un niño de 10 años, un hombre indígena y un trabajador de una fábrica. Una voz anunció entonces que Lula aceptaría la banda verde y amarilla del “pueblo brasileño”, y Aline Sousa, una recolectora de basura de 33 años, tomó el papel de Bolsonaro y colocó la banda al nuevo presidente.En un discurso ante el Congreso el domingo, Lula dijo que combatiría el hambre y la deforestación, levantaría la economía e intentaría unir al país. Pero también apuntó contra su predecesor, diciendo que Bolsonaro había amenazado la democracia de Brasil.“Bajo los vientos de la redemocratización, solíamos decir: ‘Dictadura nunca más’”, dijo. “Hoy, después del terrible desafío que hemos superado, debemos decir: ‘Democracia para siempre’”.El ascenso de Lula a la presidencia culmina una asombrosa remontada política. En su día fue el presidente más popular de Brasil, y dejó el cargo con un índice de aprobación superior al 80 por ciento. Luego cumplió 580 días en prisión, de 2018 a 2019, por cargos de corrupción relacionados con aceptar un departamento y renovaciones de empresas de construcción que licitaban contratos gubernamentales.Después de que esas condenas fueran anuladas porque el Supremo Tribunal Federal de Brasil dictaminó que el juez del caso de Lula había sido parcial, se postuló de nuevo para la presidencia, y ganó.Lula, de 77 años, y sus partidarios sostienen que fue víctima de una persecución política. Bolsonaro y sus partidarios dicen que Brasil tiene ahora un criminal como presidente.Cientos de miles de personas acudieron a Brasilia —la capital extensa y planificada que fue fundada en 1960 para albergar al gobierno brasileño—, muchos de ellos vestidos con el rojo vivo del izquierdista Partido de los Trabajadores de Lula.Simpatizantes del Presidente Lula vitorean durante su toma de posesión.Dado Galdieri para The New York TimesDurante el fin de semana, los pasajeros de los aviones cantaron canciones sobre Lula, los juerguistas bailaron samba en las fiestas de Año Nuevo y, por toda la ciudad, se oyeron gritos espontáneos desde balcones y esquinas, anunciando la llegada de Lula y la salida de Bolsonaro.“La toma de posesión de Lula tiene que ver sobre todo con la esperanza”, dijo Isabela Nascimento, de 30 años, una desarrolladora de software que acudió a las festividades el domingo. “Espero verlo representando no solo a un partido político, sino a toda una población: todo un grupo de personas que solo quieren ser más felices”.Sin embargo, en otras partes de la ciudad, miles de partidarios de Bolsonaro permanecieron acampados frente a la sede del ejército, como lo han estado desde las elecciones, muchos diciendo que estaban convencidos de que los militares evitarían que Lula asumiera el cargo el domingo.“El ejército tiene patriotismo y amor por el país y, en el pasado, el ejército hizo lo mismo”, dijo el sábado Magno Rodrigues, de 60 años, un mecánico y conserje retirado que da discursos diarios en las protestas, refiriéndose al golpe militar de 1964 que dio paso a la dictadura.Magno Rodrigues, de 60 años, mecánico y conserje retirado, ha pasado las últimas nueve semanas acampado frente al cuartel general del ejército brasileño, durmiendo en una tienda de campaña sobre una estrecha colchoneta con su esposa.Dado Galdieri para The New York TimesRodrigues ha pasado las últimas nueve semanas durmiendo con su esposa en una tienda de campaña en un colchón pequeño. Ofreció un recorrido por el campamento, convertido en una pequeña aldea desde que Bolsonaro perdió las elecciones. Cuenta con duchas, servicio de lavandería, estaciones de recarga de teléfonos celulares, un hospital y 28 puestos de comida.En gran medida, las protestas no han sido violentas —con más rezos que disturbios—, pero un pequeño grupo de personas ha incendiado vehículos. El gobierno de transición de Lula había dado a entender que los campamentos no se tolerarían durante mucho más tiempo.¿Cuánto tiempo estaba Rodrigues dispuesto a quedarse? “El tiempo que haga falta para liberar a mi país”, dijo. “El resto de mi vida si es necesario”.La ausencia de Bolsonaro y la presencia de miles de manifestantes que creen que la elección fue robada ilustran la profunda división y los enormes desafíos que enfrenta Lula en su tercer mandato como presidente del país más grande de América Latina y una de las mayores democracias del mundo.Lula presidió el auge económico de Brasil entre 2003 y 2011, pero el país no estaba tan polarizado entonces y los vientos económicos eran mucho más promisorios. La elección de Lula culmina una ola izquierdista en América Latina, en la que desde 2018 seis de los siete países más grandes de la región eligieron a líderes de izquierda, impulsados por una reacción contra los mandatarios en el poder.Una gran multitud se reunió para la toma de posesión el domingo en la capital de Brasil.Silvia Izquierdo/Associated PressLa decisión de Bolsonaro de pasar al menos las primeras semanas de la presidencia de Lula en Florida muestra su inquietud sobre su futuro en Brasil. Bolsonaro, de 67 años, está vinculado a cinco investigaciones separadas, entre ellas, una sobre la divulgación de documentos relacionados con una investigación clasificada, otra sobre sus ataques a las máquinas de votación de Brasil y otra sobre sus posibles conexiones con “milicias digitales” que difunden desinformación en su nombre.Como ciudadano común, Bolsonaro perderá ahora la inmunidad procesal que tenía como presidente. Algunos casos en su contra probablemente serán trasladados del Supremo Tribunal Federal a las cortes locales.Algunos de los principales fiscales federales que han trabajado en los casos creen que hay pruebas suficientes para condenar a Bolsonaro, particularmente en el caso relacionado con la divulgación de material clasificado, según un alto fiscal federal que habló bajo condición de anonimato para discutir investigaciones confidenciales.El domingo, Lula dijo al Congreso que Bolsonaro podría enfrentar consecuencias. “No tenemos ningún ánimo de revancha contra quienes intentaron someter a la nación a sus planes personales e ideológicos, pero garantizaremos el imperio de la ley”, dijo. “Quien erró responderá por sus errores”.Es poco probable que la presencia de Bolsonaro en Estados Unidos pueda protegerlo de ser procesado en Brasil. Aun así, Florida se ha convertido en una especie de refugio para los brasileños conservadores en los últimos años.Comentaristas prominentes de algunos de los programas de entrevistas más populares de Brasil tienen su sede en Florida. Un provocador de extrema derecha que se enfrenta a la detención en Brasil por amenazar a jueces ha vivido en Florida mientras espera una respuesta a su solicitud de asilo político en Estados Unidos. Y Carla Zambelli, una de las principales aliadas de Bolsonaro en el Congreso de Brasil, huyó a Florida durante casi tres semanas después de que fuera filmada persiguiendo a un hombre a punta de pistola en la víspera de las elecciones.El expresidente Jair Bolsonaro, tercero desde la derecha, llegando a votar en Río de Janeiro en octubre. El viernes partió hacia Estados Unidos.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga para The New York TimesBolsonaro planea permanecer en Florida de uno a tres meses, lo que le da cierta distancia para observar si el gobierno de Lula impulsará alguna de las investigaciones en su contra, según un amigo cercano de la familia Bolsonaro que habló bajo condición de anonimato para discutir planes privados. El gobierno brasileño también autorizó a cuatro ayudantes a pasar un mes en Florida con Bolsonaro, según un aviso oficial.El sábado, Bolsonaro saludó a sus nuevos vecinos en la entrada de su casa alquilada en Orlando, muchos de ellos inmigrantes brasileños que se tomaron selfis con el presidente saliente. Luego fue a comer a un KFC.No es infrecuente que ex jefes de Estado vivan en Estados Unidos para ocupar cargos académicos o similares. Pero no es habitual que un jefe de Estado busque refugio en Estados Unidos ante un posible enjuiciamiento en su país, especialmente cuando el país de origen es un aliado democrático de Estados Unidos.Bolsonaro y sus aliados argumentan que es un objetivo político de la izquierda brasileña y, en particular, del Supremo Tribunal Federal de Brasil. Han abandonado en gran medida las afirmaciones de que las elecciones fueron amañadas debido al fraude electoral, pero en su lugar ahora afirman que fueron injustas porque Alexandre de Moraes, un juez del Supremo Tribunal que encabeza el organismo electoral de Brasil, inclinó la balanza a favor de Lula.Un campamento de partidarios de Bolsonaro se ha convertido en una pequeña ciudad frente al cuartel general del ejército en Brasilia.Dado Galdieri para The New York TimesDe Moraes fue un actor activo en las elecciones, al suspender las cuentas de redes sociales de muchos de los partidarios de Bolsonaro y conceder a Lula más tiempo en televisión debido a declaraciones engañosas en los anuncios políticos de Bolsonaro. De Moraes ha dicho que necesitaba actuar para contrarrestar las posturas antidemocráticas de Bolsonaro y sus partidarios. A algunos juristas les preocupa que haya abusado de su poder, al actuar a menudo de forma unilateral en formas que van mucho más allá de las de un típico juez del Supremo Tribunal.Aun así, Bolsonaro se ha enfrentado a críticas generalizadas, tanto en la derecha como en la izquierda, por su respuesta a su derrota electoral. Después de insinuar durante meses que rebatiría cualquier derrota, encendiendo a sus partidarios y preocupando a sus críticos, se mantuvo en silencio y se negó a reconocer públicamente la victoria de Lula. Su gobierno llevó a cabo la transición mientras él se alejaba de los focos y de muchas de sus funciones oficiales.El sábado por la noche, en su discurso de despedida a la nación, incluso su vicepresidente, Hamilton Mourão, un general retirado, dejó clara su opinión sobre los últimos momentos de Bolsonaro como presidente.“Líderes que deberían tranquilizar y unir a la nación en torno a un proyecto de país han dejado que su silencio o su protagonismo inoportuno y dañino creen un clima de caos y desintegración social”, dijo Mourão.Jack Nicas es el jefe de la corresponsalía del Times en Brasil, que abarca Brasil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay y Uruguay. Antes cubría tecnología desde San Francisco. Antes de unirse al Times, en 2018, trabajó durante siete años en The Wall Street Journal. @jacknicas • Facebook More

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      Lula Becomes Brazil’s President, With Bolsonaro in Florida

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      Brazil inaugurates its new president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, on Sunday. Facing investigations, former President Jair Bolsonaro has taken refuge in Orlando. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took the reins of the Brazilian government on Sunday in an elaborate inauguration, complete with a motorcade, music festival and hundreds of thousands of supporters filling the central esplanade of Brasília, the nation’s capital.But one key person was missing: the departing far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro.Mr. Bolsonaro was supposed to pass Mr. Lula the presidential sash on Sunday, an important symbol of the peaceful transition of power in a nation where many people still recall the 21-year military dictatorship that ended in 1985.Instead, Mr. Bolsonaro woke up Sunday 6,000 miles away, in a rented house owned by a professional mixed-martial-arts fighter a few miles from Disney World. Facing various investigations from his time in his office, Mr. Bolsonaro flew to Orlando on Friday night and plans to stay in Florida for at least a month.Mr. Bolsonaro had questioned the reliability of Brazil’s election systems for months, without evidence, and when he lost in October, he refused to concede unequivocally. In a sort of farewell address on Friday, breaking weeks of near silence, he said that he tried to block Mr. Lula from taking office but failed.“Within the laws, respecting the Constitution, I searched for a way out of this,” he said. He then appeared to encourage his supporters to move on. “We live in a democracy or we don’t,” he said. “No one wants an adventure.”A crowd of well-wishers greeted the motorcade of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and his wife, Rosangela da Silva, after his swearing-in in Brasília on Sunday.Dado Galdieri for The New York TimesOn Sunday, Mr. Lula ascended the ramp to the presidential offices with a diverse group of Brazilians, including a Black woman, a disabled man, a 10-year-old boy, an Indigenous man and a factory worker. A voice then announced that Mr. Lula would accept the green-and-yellow sash from “the Brazilian people,” and Aline Sousa, a 33-year-old garbage collector, played the role of Mr. Bolsonaro and placed the sash on the new president.In an address to Congress on Sunday, Mr. Lula said that he would fight hunger and deforestation, lift the economy and try to unite the country. But he also took aim at his predecessor, saying that Mr. Bolsonaro had threatened Brazil’s democracy.“Under the winds of redemocratization, we used to say, ‘Dictatorship never again,’” he said. “Today, after the terrible challenge we’ve overcome, we must say, ‘Democracy forever.’”Mr. Lula’s ascension to the presidency caps a stunning political comeback. He was once Brazil’s most popular president, leaving office with an approval rating above 80 percent. He then served 580 days in prison, from 2018 to 2019, on corruption charges that he accepted a condo and renovations from construction companies bidding on government contracts.Brazil’s New PresidentLula Returns: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva takes the reins of Latin America’s largest nation 20 years after his first presidential term. He will lead a country that has drastically changed.Bolsonaro Flees: Jair Bolsonaro, the departing far-right president, has taken refuge in Orlando as he faces various investigations from his time in his office.Climate Challenges: Mr. Lula, who made climate a cornerstone of his campaign, has pledged to protect the Amazon rainforest. Here are his other plans to tackle climate change.Lessons in Democracy: The United States and Brazil both had presidents who attacked their elections. But their responses — and the aftermaths — differed greatly.After those convictions were thrown out because Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled that the judge in Mr. Lula’s case was biased, he ran for the presidency again — and won.Mr. Lula, 77, and his supporters maintain that he was the victim of political persecution. Mr. Bolsonaro and his supporters say that Brazil now has a criminal as president.In Brasília, hundreds of thousands of people streamed into the sprawling, planned capital, founded in 1960 to house the Brazilian government, with many dressed in the bright red of Mr. Lula’s leftist Workers’ Party.Supporters of President Lula cheered during his inauguration.Dado Galdieri for The New York TimesOver the weekend, passengers on arriving planes broke into rally songs about Mr. Lula, revelers danced to samba at New Year’s Eve parties and, across the city, spontaneous cries rang out from balconies and street corners, heralding Mr. Lula’s arrival and Mr. Bolsonaro’s exit.“Lula’s inauguration is mainly about hope,” said Isabela Nascimento, 30, a software developer walking to the festivities on Sunday. “I hope to see him representing not only a political party, but an entire population — a whole group of people who just want to be happier.”Yet elsewhere in the city, thousands of Mr. Bolsonaro’s supporters remained camped outside the army headquarters, as they have been since the election, many saying they were convinced that at the final moment on Sunday, the military would prevent Mr. Lula from taking office..css-1v2n82w{max-width:600px;width:calc(100% – 40px);margin-top:20px;margin-bottom:25px;height:auto;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;font-family:nyt-franklin;color:var(–color-content-secondary,#363636);}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){.css-1v2n82w{margin-left:20px;margin-right:20px;}}@media only screen and (min-width:1024px){.css-1v2n82w{width:600px;}}.css-161d8zr{width:40px;margin-bottom:18px;text-align:left;margin-left:0;color:var(–color-content-primary,#121212);border:1px solid var(–color-content-primary,#121212);}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){.css-161d8zr{width:30px;margin-bottom:15px;}}.css-tjtq43{line-height:25px;}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){.css-tjtq43{line-height:24px;}}.css-x1k33h{font-family:nyt-cheltenham;font-size:19px;font-weight:700;line-height:25px;}.css-1hvpcve{font-size:17px;font-weight:300;line-height:25px;}.css-1hvpcve em{font-style:italic;}.css-1hvpcve strong{font-weight:bold;}.css-1hvpcve a{font-weight:500;color:var(–color-content-secondary,#363636);}.css-1c013uz{margin-top:18px;margin-bottom:22px;}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){.css-1c013uz{font-size:14px;margin-top:15px;margin-bottom:20px;}}.css-1c013uz a{color:var(–color-signal-editorial,#326891);-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;font-weight:500;font-size:16px;}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){.css-1c013uz a{font-size:13px;}}.css-1c013uz a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}What we consider before using anonymous sources. Do the sources know the information? What’s their motivation for telling us? Have they proved reliable in the past? Can we corroborate the information? Even with these questions satisfied, The Times uses anonymous sources as a last resort. The reporter and at least one editor know the identity of the source.Learn more about our process.“The army has patriotism and love for the country, and in the past, the army did the same thing,” Magno Rodrigues, 60, a former mechanic and janitor who gives daily speeches at the protests, said on Saturday, referring to the 1964 military coup that ushered in the dictatorship.Magno Rodrigues, 60, a former mechanic and janitor, has spent the past nine weeks camped outside the Brazilian Army headquarters, sleeping in a tent on a narrow pad with his wife. Dado Galdieri for The New York TimesMr. Rodrigues has spent the past nine weeks sleeping in a tent on a narrow pad with his wife. He provided a tour of the encampment, which had become a small village since Mr. Bolsonaro lost the election. It has showers, a laundry service, cellphone-charging stations, a hospital and 28 food stalls.The protests have been overwhelmingly nonviolent — with more praying than rioting — but a small group of people have set fire to vehicles. Mr. Lula’s transitional government had suggested that the encampments would not be tolerated for much longer.How long was Mr. Rodrigues prepared to stay? “As long as it takes to liberate my country,” he said. “For the rest of my life if I have to.”The absence of Mr. Bolsonaro and the presence of thousands of protesters who believe the election was stolen illustrate the deep divide and tall challenges that Mr. Lula faces in his third term as president of Latin America’s biggest country and one of the world’s largest democracies.He oversaw a boom in Brazil from 2003 to 2011, but the country was not nearly as polarized then, and the economic tailwinds were far stronger. Mr. Lula’s election caps a leftist wave in Latin America, with six of the region’s seven largest countries electing leftist leaders since 2018, fueled by an anti-incumbent backlash.A large crowd gathered for the inauguration on Sunday in Brazil’s capital.Silvia Izquierdo/Associated PressMr. Bolsonaro’s decision to spend at least the first weeks of Mr. Lula’s presidency in Florida shows his unease about his future in Brazil. Mr. Bolsonaro, 67, is linked to five separate inquiries, including one into his release of documents related to a classified investigation, another on his attacks on Brazil’s voting machines and another into his potential connections to “digital militias” that spread misinformation on his behalf.As a regular citizen, Mr. Bolsonaro will now lose the prosecutorial immunity he had as president. Some cases against him will probably be moved to local courts from the Supreme Court.Some top federal prosecutors who have worked on the cases believe there is enough evidence to convict Mr. Bolsonaro, particularly in the case related to the release of classified material, according to a top federal prosecutor who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential investigations.On Sunday, Mr. Lula told Congress that Mr. Bolsonaro could face consequences. “We have no intention of revenge against those who tried to subjugate the nation to their personal and ideological plans, but we will guarantee the rule of law,” he said. “Those who have done wrong will answer for their mistakes.”It is unlikely that Mr. Bolsonaro’s presence in the United States could protect him from prosecution in Brazil. Still, Florida has become a sort of refuge for conservative Brazilians in recent years.Prominent pundits on some of Brazil’s most popular talk shows are based in Florida. A far-right provocateur who faces arrest in Brazil for threatening judges has lived in Florida as he awaits a response to his political asylum request in the United States. And Carla Zambelli, one of Mr. Bolsonaro’s top allies in Brazil’s Congress, fled to Florida for nearly three weeks after she was filmed pursuing a man at gunpoint on the eve of the election.President Jair Bolsonaro, third from right, arriving to vote in Rio de Janeiro in October. On Friday he left for the United States.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga for The New York TimesMr. Bolsonaro plans to stay in Florida for one to three months, giving him some distance to observe whether Mr. Lula’s administration will push any of the investigations against him, according to a close friend of the Bolsonaro family who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private plans. The Brazilian government has also authorized four aides to spend a month in Florida with Mr. Bolsonaro, according to an official notice.On Saturday, Mr. Bolsonaro greeted his new neighbors in the driveway of his rented Orlando house, many of them Brazilian immigrants who took selfies with the departing president. He then went to a KFC to eat. It is not uncommon for former heads of state to live in the United States for posts in academia or similar ventures. But it is unusual for a head of state to seek safe haven in the United States from possible prosecution at home, particularly when the home country is a democratic U.S. ally. Mr. Bolsonaro and his allies argue that he is a political target of Brazil’s left and particularly Brazil’s Supreme Court. They have largely dropped claims that the election was rigged because of voter fraud but instead now claim that it was unfair because Alexandre de Moraes, a Supreme Court justice who runs Brazil’s election agency, tipped the scales for Mr. Lula.An encampment of Mr. Bolsonaro’s supporters has turned into a village outside the army headquarters in Brasília.Dado Galdieri for The New York TimesMr. Moraes was an active player in the election, suspending the social-media accounts of many of Mr. Bolsonaro’s supporters and granting Mr. Lula more television time because of misleading statements in Mr. Bolsonaro’s political ads. Mr. Moraes has said he needed to act to counter the antidemocratic stances of Mr. Bolsonaro and his supporters. Some legal experts worry that he abused his power, often acting unilaterally in ways that go far beyond that of a typical Supreme Court judge.Still, Mr. Bolsonaro has faced widespread criticism, on both the right and the left, for his response to his election loss. After suggesting for months he would dispute any loss — firing up his supporters and worrying his critics — he instead went silent, refusing to acknowledge Mr. Lula’s victory publicly. His administration carried out the transition as he receded from the spotlight and many of his official duties.On Saturday night, in his departing speech to the nation, even his vice president, Hamilton Mourão, a former general, made clear his views on Mr. Bolsonaro’s final moments as president.“Leaders that should reassure and unite the nation around a project for the country have let their silence or inopportune and harmful protagonism create a climate of chaos and social disintegration,” Mr. Mourão said. More

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      After Brazil’s Shocking Defeat, Take a Close Look at What the Team Has Become

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      By No IdeasSÃO PAULO, Brazil — When the moment came, Neymar was nowhere to be seen. With Brazil needing to score a penalty on Friday to stay in the World Cup, he was stood on the halfway line, eyes shut. When his teammate missed, sending Brazil out of the tournament at the quarterfinal stage, he sank to the ground in despair. The team’s talisman, the undisputed star of Brazilian football, had succumbed to defeat. News of the failure was already flashing around the globe.At least Neymar is used to making headlines. A boy wonder who became the most expensive player in the world, he had been elevated to the status of footballing icon by his louche style, dazzling skills and striking appearance. But lately, he’s become noted for something else — as an avatar of the union between the national side and the far-right politics of Jair Bolsonaro, the departing Brazilian president.Neymar hasn’t been shy about his stance. For the presidential election in October, he posted a video expressing his support for Mr. Bolsonaro and underlined it later, saying, “The values that the president carries are very similar to me.” For all his maverick energy, Neymar is very much following a trend. In 2018, several top names in Brazilian football, the legends Ronaldinho and Rivaldo among them, announced their endorsement of Mr. Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro supporters, for their part, have taken to wearing the national team’s bright yellow jersey at demonstrations, laying claim to one of the nation’s most significant symbols.Progressives have sought to rescue the shirt from Bolsonarist appropriation, wearing it at their own rallies. But the damage has been done: One in five Brazilians, according to a recent study, would not wear the shirt today for political reasons. Once the pride of the nation, the football team has become an emblem of polarization. After the side’s surprise exit in the quarterfinals, at the hands of Croatia, the chance for the country to come together as it has done before — in joy over a championship — has been missed.It’s not the first time the football team has been taken up by politics, particularly of the right. In the 1930s, for example, the dictator Getúlio Vargas built monumental stadiums to house both soccer matches and mass rallies. The two were seen as two sides of the same coin, means to draw the masses into supporting the regime.Decades later, the military dictatorship that ruled from 1964 to 1985 tried to do something similar. When the military launched its coup, Brazil’s team was one of the world’s best. Led by stars such as Pelé and Garrincha, it had won the last two World Cups, playing scintillating, dynamic football. The military spared no effort in linking itself with the squad — opening new stadiums with players and military authorities side by side, for example — in the hope that the widespread reverence in which the team was held would rub off on the regime.It meddled, too. In the run-up to the 1970 World Cup, the president reportedly secured the ouster of the coach, a leftist who had spoken openly about the political imprisonments, torture and killings carried out by the regime. That didn’t stop the side from winning the competition in Mexico that year. The triumph was a major public relations victory for the government: Pictures of the president celebrating with the players flooded the country, as did sympathetic statements from the jubilant team. The side’s success was presented as evidence that the path taken by the regime was the right one. In this atmosphere of euphoria, even left-wing militants rooted for the side.That was the high-water mark of the dictatorship’s use of the national team. In the ’80s, the country’s gradual democratization was accompanied by a transformation of the profile of the team, which included a left-leaning players such as Sócrates and Zico. With the end of the dictatorship in 1985 — followed by a new Constitution in 1988 and general elections the year after — the team was no longer reflective of the military regime, or of the political right more generally. The 1994 and 2002 World Cup victories were widely celebrated by the population. Football belonged to everyone.In 2013, though, that started to change. As popular uprisings erupted, right-wing groups sought to differentiate themselves from leftist demonstrators by draping themselves in the Brazilian flag and wearing the national team’s jersey. The “green and yellows,” as they became known, mostly protested corruption and targeted the center-left Workers Party, to which the president, Dilma Rousseff, belonged. At the Confederations Cup that year, hosted by Brazil, thousands of fans booed Ms. Rousseff.That was a sign of things to come. In the demonstrations that led to Ms. Rousseff’s impeachment and removal from office in 2016, protesters clad in the yellow jersey called for military intervention and took selfies with military police officers. By the time Mr. Bolsonaro began his campaign for president in 2018, the football team was firmly associated with a right-wing agenda.During his tenure, the two became inseparable as supporters took to the streets to demand the closure of the Supreme Court, the lifting of pandemic restrictions and the end of electronic voting. In these gatherings, the national jersey shared space with symbols of the extreme right such as neo-Nazi flags, banners bearing antidemocratic slogans and even tiki torches.What about the side itself? While a number of players actively welcomed Mr. Bolsonaro to the presidency, it wasn’t clear where the team stood politically. The Copa América in 2021 — controversially hosted by Brazil after Colombia and Argentina had refused, citing concerns about the pandemic — appeared to set things straight. After a meeting, the team decided to go ahead with the competition, stressing that it was not a “political” decision. For many, this acquiescence seemed to prove that the national team had largely fallen under Mr. Bolsonaro’s sway.That’s not entirely fair. Throughout the four years of Mr. Bolsonaro’s government, explicit support for the president from within the squad was rare. A few players, such as the Tottenham striker Richarlison, spoke out against the politicization of the team. Paulinho, a promising young forward, even declared his support for Mr. Bolsonaro’s election rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The majority of the players, of course, prefer to keep their heads down.But a national team, as everyone knows, is much more than the sum of the individual players involved — it is a symbol. In Brazil, the entanglement of sport and politics has produced something strange: a national side almost entirely associated with a divisive political project and now, after Mr. Lula’s narrow victory in October, a defeated politician.Things might not stay that way. In Qatar, it was Richarlison who provided the most memorable moment, with his astounding goal against Serbia; Neymar, after missing two games through injury, was unable to lift the side to triumph. At home, feelings are mixed. The team’s performance, oscillating between sublime and stodgy, flattered to deceive.In the aftermath of stinging defeat, the question of what Brazil’s team is — and who it is for — remains vexingly open.Micael Zaramella is a historian of Brazilian football and the author of a book on Palmeiras, a club in São Paulo.The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: letters@nytimes.com.Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram. More

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      Judge Slaps Down Bolsonaro’s Late Bid to Overturn Brazil’s Election

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      President Jair Bolsonaro’s campaign argued many votes should be nullified because of a software bug. But experts said the bug did not affect the vote, and Brazil’s elections chief dismissed the complaint.RIO DE JANEIRO — For more than a year, President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil had warned that he might not accept a loss in last month’s presidential election. Then he lost. In response, he reluctantly agreed to begin the transition of power — while his allies inspected the election results for evidence of anything amiss.This week, his campaign claimed to have found it: a small software bug in the voting machines. On Tuesday, the campaign filed a request to effectively overturn the election in Mr. Bolsonaro’s favor, saying the bug should nullify votes from about 60 percent of the voting machines.Of the remaining votes, Mr. Bolsonaro would win 51 percent, the campaign said, making him the victor instead of the leftist former president who defeated him, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.The request was a Hail Mary. Independent experts said the bug had no impact on the integrity of the vote. And then, late Wednesday, Brazil’s elections chief dismissed the complaint and fined the three conservative parties behind it $4.3 million for filing it.Alexandre de Moraes, a Supreme Court justice who runs Brazil’s electoral agency and who has become one of Mr. Bolsonaro’s most prominent political adversaries, said in a decision Wednesday night that the campaign’s arguments were “absolutely false” and that the request to overturn the election was “ostensibly an attack on the democratic rule of law and carried out recklessly, with the aim of encouraging criminal and anti-democratic movements.”Mr. Moraes had previously given the campaign 24 hours to explain why it had only questioned votes from the election’s second round, in which Mr. Bolsonaro lost, and not the first round, in which his political party won the most seats in Congress using the same voting machines. After the head of Mr. Bolsonaro’s party said on Wednesday that it lacked information about the first round, Mr. Moraes dismissed the complaint.No evidence of fraud in Brazil’s voting machines, which are not connected to the internet, has emerged.Victor Moriyama for The New York TimesThe back-and-forth is the latest twist in the president’s unusual response to his loss. At first, he waited two days to publicly address his loss. When he did, he refused to concede. Then, as his administration began the transition of power, Mr. Bolsonaro stayed out of the spotlight for weeks.His vice president said he was dealing with a skin infection that made it difficult to wear pants. Mr. Bolsonaro returned to the presidential offices on Wednesday.At the same time, thousands of Mr. Bolsonaro’s supporters have been protesting outside military bases across the country, begging the armed forces to intervene in the government and prevent Mr. Lula from taking office. Many protesters claim the election was stolen, citing analyses and evidence that have been debunked by experts. The military inspected the vote and found no signs of fraud.Mr. Moraes, the elections chief, has become one of Brazil’s most powerful political figures in the face of criticism of the elections system from Mr. Bolsonaro and his allies. Mr. Moraes’s aggressive response to what he has called attacks against Brazil’s democracy, including his orders for social networks to take down thousands of posts, has drawn widespread criticism from the Brazilian right.On short notice on Wednesday afternoon, hours before Mr. Moraes’s decision, Mr. Bolsonaro’s right-wing Liberal Party had called reporters to a hotel in Brasília, the nation’s capital, to explain its findings.Valdemar Costa Neto, the party’s president, said the software bug demanded a review of the election results. “There can’t be any doubts about the vote,” he said. “If this is a stain on our democracy, we have to solve it now.”Mr. Moraes on Wednesday also ordered an investigation into Mr. Costa Neto and the official who oversaw the party’s audit.The software bug highlighted by Mr. Bolsonaro’s campaign causes an error in one document produced by some older voting machines. The error affects the identification number connected to the voting machine. Liberal Party officials argued that made it difficult to verify the votes.Independent computer security experts who have studied Brazil’s voting machines and who reviewed the campaign’s findings said that was wrong. They said that while the bug exists, it has no bearing on the integrity of the results. That is because there are a variety of other ways to identify the voting machines, including on the very documents that have the error.“They pointed out a bug that needs to be corrected. That’s great, and it’s actually easy to correct,” said Marcos Simplício, a cybersecurity researcher at the University of São Paulo. But he said that the campaign’s suggestion that votes should be nullified is like arguing a car is totaled because of a scratch on the door.“Try to convince your insurance company of that,” he said. “It’s nonsense. Complete nonsense.” More

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      Angry Bolsonaro Supporters Protest in the Streets

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      Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in cities across Brazil, many of them demanding that the military stop the transfer of power to President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.BRASÍLIA — They arrived by the tens of thousands on Wednesday, angry and draped in Brazilian flags, massing outside military bases across the country. They were there, they said, to save Brazil’s democracy from a rigged election, and there was only one way to do so: The armed forces needed to take control of the government.It was an alarming demand in a country that suffered under a two-decade military dictatorship until 1985 — and yet another bizarre twist in the aftermath of Brazil’s polarizing elections.A day earlier, the far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, reluctantly agreed to a transfer of power after 45 hours of silence following his loss to a leftist former leader, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. But after Mr. Bolsonaro’s years of unfounded attacks on Brazil’s election systems, his supporters appeared far from accepting defeat.Andrea Vaz, a supporter of President Jair Bolsonaro, holds a sign claiming fraud in the presidential election outside the army headquarters on Wednesday.Dado Galdieri for The New York Times“I don’t understand it that well, but they have to intervene and hold new elections,” said Andrea Vaz, 51, a computer-hardware seller holding a sign that said, “Fraud in the voting machines!” at a large protest outside the Brazilian Army’s national headquarters in Brasília. “We saw various videos. People giving out money, buying votes,” she added. “There’s proof.”But some protesters had clearer, more drastic demands, which were circulating on WhatsApp and Telegram groups: The military should take control of the streets, the Congress and the Supreme Court should be disbanded, and the president should remain in power, at least until new elections could be held.The widespread protests and calls for the armed forces were an escalation of the Brazilian far-right’s refusal to accept the election of Mr. da Silva, a former president whom many on the right view as a criminal because of his past corruption scandal.Mr. Bolsonaro, in a two-minute speech on Tuesday in which he did not acknowledge his loss, said he supported peaceful protests inspired by “feelings of injustice in the electoral process.”Many of his followers saw that as a stamp of approval. “What he said yesterday, that gave me more energy to come,” said Larissa Oliveira da Silva, 22, who was sitting on a beach chair in the protest in São Paulo, propping up her broken foot. “After his comments, I saw that he is on our side.”But other protesters said that Mr. Bolsonaro had effectively given up with his agreement to transfer power to Mr. da Silva on Tuesday, so they were turning to the armed forces instead.In a statement, Brazil’s Ministry of Defense said that “the demonstrations, provided they are orderly and peaceful, are the exercise of freedom of expression, of thought, and of assembly, in accordance with constitutional principles and current laws.”The military has not considered intervening in the transfer of power and, if the protests expand, it may urge the president to ask his supporters to go home, according to a senior military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private talks. The military, which helped oversee the election, found no signs of fraud, the official said.The Ministry of Defense said that it would soon deliver its report on the vote’s integrity to election officials.In interviews with more than 60 protesters across Brazil since Sunday, almost none believed the election was clean. Those beliefs were rooted in the same circumstantial evidence, unattributed reports and inaccuracies that Mr. Bolsonaro has promoted for years to claim that Brazil’s elections are rife with fraud. They had seen videos of the voting machines malfunctioning, read that patterns in the vote returns were suspicious and, they said, they simply did not trust election officials.Most of all, however, they said that Mr. Bolsonaro had drawn much bigger crowds than Mr. da Silva — and almost everyone they knew voted for the president — so how could it be that he lost?The movement was loosely organized. There appeared to be no formal protest leaders, and prominent public figures, including conservative politicians, did not echo similar calls for intervention. Yet it quickly grew into the largest demonstration since Mr. Bolsonaro lost the vote on Sunday..css-1v2n82w{max-width:600px;width:calc(100% – 40px);margin-top:20px;margin-bottom:25px;height:auto;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;font-family:nyt-franklin;color:var(–color-content-secondary,#363636);}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){.css-1v2n82w{margin-left:20px;margin-right:20px;}}@media only screen and (min-width:1024px){.css-1v2n82w{width:600px;}}.css-161d8zr{width:40px;margin-bottom:18px;text-align:left;margin-left:0;color:var(–color-content-primary,#121212);border:1px solid var(–color-content-primary,#121212);}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){.css-161d8zr{width:30px;margin-bottom:15px;}}.css-tjtq43{line-height:25px;}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){.css-tjtq43{line-height:24px;}}.css-x1k33h{font-family:nyt-cheltenham;font-size:19px;font-weight:700;line-height:25px;}.css-1hvpcve{font-size:17px;font-weight:300;line-height:25px;}.css-1hvpcve em{font-style:italic;}.css-1hvpcve strong{font-weight:bold;}.css-1hvpcve a{font-weight:500;color:var(–color-content-secondary,#363636);}.css-1c013uz{margin-top:18px;margin-bottom:22px;}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){.css-1c013uz{font-size:14px;margin-top:15px;margin-bottom:20px;}}.css-1c013uz a{color:var(–color-signal-editorial,#326891);-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;font-weight:500;font-size:16px;}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){.css-1c013uz a{font-size:13px;}}.css-1c013uz a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}What we consider before using anonymous sources. Do the sources know the information? What’s their motivation for telling us? Have they proved reliable in the past? Can we corroborate the information? Even with these questions satisfied, The Times uses anonymous sources as a last resort. The reporter and at least one editor know the identity of the source.Learn more about our process.With a collective turnout of well over 100,000 people, protesters gathered in at least 75 cities, including in all of Brazil’s 27 state capitals, often around military bases.Police clashed with pro-Bolsonaro protesters blocking the Castelo Branco highway in São Paulo on Wednesday.Victor Moriyama for The New York TimesElsewhere across the country, protesters continued to set up highway blockades, creating miles-long backups and disrupting transportation and freight. Those blockades began immediately after the election results on Sunday as part of what protesters said was an effort to “paralyze” Brazil and force the military to intervene. As of Wednesday afternoon, 146 blockades were still active, according to the federal highway police.Around São Paulo, the blockades caused multiple backups totaling more than 60 miles of traffic jams on Wednesday, according to the local traffic agency, and led to the cancellation of 1,400 buses. The disruptions also caused fuel shortages in at least four states.Mr. Bolsonaro released a video late Tuesday, pleading with his supporters to stop blocking the roads, saying it was disrupting lives and hurting the economy. “I am as upset and sad as you are, but we have to put our heads in the right place,” he said. “Other demonstrations that are taking place across Brazil in public squares are part of the democratic game.”“Let’s do what has to be done,” he added. “I’m with you.” He did not directly address the calls for military intervention.The protests were largely nonviolent. The most notable incident was an attack against protesters in Mirassol, a midsize city north of São Paulo, when a car drove into the crowd, injuring 11 people, according to local police. One man was arrested on attempted murder charges, police said.Beyond their insistence that the vote was stolen, the protesters were also driven by their disdain for Mr. da Silva, who has been the most dominant political figure in the 34 years of Brazil’s modern democracy. Universally known as Lula, he has been a top candidate in six of the nine presidential elections over that stretch, winning three.But after his last administration, he also served 17 months in prison on corruption charges, which were later thrown out when the Supreme Court ruled the judge in his cases was biased.He was never cleared of any wrongdoing, however, fueling a belief that he is not to be trusted and making him perhaps a more polarizing force for many Brazilians than Mr. Bolsonaro.Danielle Mota holds a banner calling for intervention in the election outside army headquarters on Wednesday.Dado Galdieri for The New York Times“We don’t want a thug president who robbed, who was arrested, who had various people in his government who looted Brazil,” said Danielle Mota, 43, a hairdresser holding a sign that said “Federal Intervention.”“We do want a military intervention.” she added. “Just like in 1964.”That was the year that the armed forces, with U.S. support, overthrew the government, instituting a military dictatorship for 21 years that killed or tortured thousands of political opponents. Most protesters interviewed on Wednesday at demonstrations in three of the country’s largest cities, Brasília, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, said they wanted Brazil to remain a democracy. But others, faced with Mr. da Silva as president, said it was time for a military government.“Permanently,” said Kenya Oliveira, 38, holding her 4-year-old son.Camila Rocha, a Brazilian political scientist who wrote a book on the radicalization of Brazil’s right, said the calls for the military were the product of years of absorbing Mr. Bolsonaro’s claims that the elections were rigged, combined with fears of a da Silva administration.Mr. da Silva’s leftist Workers’ Party was at the center of a sprawling government kickback scheme that was revealed after he left office in 2010, leading to the imprisonment of many of the party’s top officials. Mr. Bolsonaro and his allies have long called the party corrupt, but they have also falsely framed it as communist.Many on the right view Mr. da Silva “not as an adversary, but as an enemy that needs to be contained,” Ms. Rocha said. “In this sense, there is a strong parallel with the 1964 coup, which was justified precisely to halt the advance of what was thought to be the rise of communism in Brazil.”Many of the protesters said their demands for intervention were supported by Article 142 of the Brazilian Constitution, which says that the military has the role of “guaranteeing constitutional powers” under the “supreme authority of the president.”According to constitutional lawyers and past court rulings, the article does not allow the military to take control of the government.Marco Aurélio Mello, a retired Supreme Court Justice and an outspoken supporter of Mr. Bolsonaro, said the protesters’ interpretation is merely “nostalgia for the authoritarian regime.”He added that instead the protesters had “the losers’ right to whine.”Laís Martins contributed reporting from São Paulo, Flávia Milhorance, Ana Ionova and Leonardo Coelho from Rio de Janeiro, and André Spigariol and Gustavo Freitas from Brasília. 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