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      Bolsonaro Supporters Lay Siege to Brazil’s Capital

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      Thousands of supporters of Brazil’s ousted former president, Jair Bolsonaro, stormed Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential offices on Sunday to protest what they falsely claim was a stolen election, the violent culmination of years of conspiracy theories advanced by Mr. Bolsonaro and his right-wing allies.In scenes reminiscent of the Jan. 6 storming of the United States Capitol, protesters in Brasília, Brazil’s capital, draped in the yellow and green of Brazil’s flag surged into the seat of power, setting fires, repurposing barricades as weapons, knocking police officers from horseback and filming their crimes as they committed them.“We always said we would not give up,” one protester declared as he filmed himself among hundreds of protesters pushing into the Capitol building. “Congress is ours. We are in power.”For months, protesters had been demanding that the military prevent the newly elected president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, from taking office on Jan. 1. Many on the right in Brazil have become convinced, despite the lack of evidence, that October’s election was rigged.For years, Mr. Bolsonaro had asserted, without any proof, that Brazil’s election systems were rife with fraud and that the nation’s elites were conspiring to remove him from power.Mr. Lula said Sunday that those false claims had fueled the attack on the plaza, known as Three Powers Square because of the presence of the three branches of government. Mr. Bolsonaro “triggered this,” he said in an address to the nation. “He spurred attacks on the three powers whenever he could. This is also his responsibility.” More

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      Videos Show How Rioters Stormed Brazil’s Capital

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      They set fire to the carpet in the lower house of Brazil’s Congress. They attacked the presidential offices, rifled through papers and tried to barricade themselves inside. They destroyed windows inside the Supreme Court.Thousands of supporters of Brazil’s right-wing former president, Jair Bolsonaro, stormed buildings representing the three branches of government to protest what they falsely believe was a stolen election.Where Rioters Have Stormed Government Buildings More

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      Brazil’s Protests Resemble the US Capitol Attack on Jan. 6

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      Supporters of U.S. President Donald J. Trump gathered outside the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021.Leah Millis/ReutersSupporters of Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro outside Brazil’s National Congress in Brasília on January 8, 2023.Adriano Machado/ReutersA defeated president claims, falsely, that an election was rigged. After months of baseless claims of fraud, an angry mob of his supporters storms Congress. They overwhelm police and vandalize the seat of national government, threatening the country’s democratic institutions.Similarities between Sunday’s mob violence in Brazil and the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, are self-evident: Jair Bolsonaro, the right-wing former president of Brazil, had for months sought to undermine the results of an election that he lost, in much the same manner that Donald J. Trump did after his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. Trump allies who had helped spread falsehoods about the 2020 election have turned to sowing doubt in the results of Brazil’s presidential election in October.Those efforts by Mr. Bolsonaro and his allies have now culminated in an attempt — however implausible — to overturn the results of Brazil’s election and restore the former president to power. In much the same manner as Jan. 6, the mob that descended on the Brazilian capital overpowered police at the perimeter of the building that houses Congress and swept into the halls of power — breaking windows, taking valuable items and posing for photos in abandoned legislative chambers.A Trump supporter inside the office of Nancy Pelosi, then speaker of the House, on Jan. 6, 2021.Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesSupporters of Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro rifle through papers on a desk in the Planalto Palace in Brasília on Sunday.Eraldo Peres/Associated PressThe two attacks do not align completely. The Jan. 6 mob was trying to stop the official certification of the results of the 2020 election, a final, ceremonial step taken before the new president, Joseph R. Biden Jr., was inaugurated on Jan. 20.But Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the new president of Brazil, was sworn into office more than a week ago. The results of the presidential election have been certified by the country’s electoral court, not its legislature. There was no official proceeding to disrupt on Sunday, and the Brazilian Congress was not in session.The mob violence on Jan. 6, 2021, “went right to the heart of the changing government,” and the attack in Brazil is not “as heavily weighted with that kind of symbolism,” said Carl Tobias, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Richmond.Pro-Trump protesters storming the Capitol in 2021.Will Oliver/EPA, via ShutterstockPro-Bolsonaro protesters storming the Planalto Presidential Palace in Brasília in 2023.Sergio Lima/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesAnd Mr. Bolsonaro, who has had strong ties with Mr. Trump throughout their years in office, was nowhere near the capital, having taken up residence in Orlando, Fla., about 150 miles from Mr. Trump’s estate at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach.Nevertheless, the riot in Brasília drew widespread condemnation, including from U.S. lawmakers, with many Democrats drawing comparisons between it and the storming of the U.S. Capitol.“Democracies of the world must act fast to make clear there will be no support for right-wing insurrectionists storming the Brazilian Congress,” Representative Jamie Raskin wrote on Twitter. “These fascists modeling themselves after Trump’s Jan. 6 rioters must end up in the same place: prison.”The Capitol Rotunda after a pro-Trump mob stormed the building on Jan. 6.Win Mcnamee/Getty ImagesThe National Congress building in Brasília after pro-Bolsonaro protesters stormed the building on Sunday.Eraldo Peres/Associated PressRepresentative George Santos, a Republican from New York under criminal investigation by Brazilian authorities, appeared to be one of the first elected officials from his party to condemn the mob violence in a post on Twitter on Sunday, but he did not draw a connection to Jan. 6.Many of the lawmakers who condemned the violence had lived through the attack on the Capitol that occurred just over two years ago. Mr. Raskin was the lead impeachment manager in Mr. Trump’s second impeachment trial over his role in inciting the mob.In a final echo of the Jan. 6 attack on Sunday, hours after the riot in Brazil began, Mr. Bolsonaro posted a message on social media calling for peace, much the way Mr. Trump did. Authorities had already announced they had the situation under control. 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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      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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      Millones de brasileños desconfían de las elecciones debido a Bolsonaro

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      Tres de cada cuatro partidarios del presidente de Brasil confían poco o nada en el sistema de votación. Muchos dijeron que estaban preocupados por un posible fraude y advirtieron estar preparados para protestar.DUQUE DE CAXIAS, Brasil — Para muchos simpatizantes del presidente Jair Bolsonaro, las elecciones presidenciales de Brasil que se realizarán el domingo solo pueden tener dos resultados posibles: celebrar o tomar las calles. Eso se debe, según dicen, a que una derrota de Bolsonaro solo puede significar que la votación fue manipulada.“Hay mucho fraude”, dijo Kátia de Lima, de 47 años, empleada de una tienda, en un mitin de Bolsonaro este mes. “Está comprobado”.En el mismo mitin que se realizó al norte de Río de Janeiro, Paulo Roberto, de 55 años, trabajador del gobierno, comentó: “Cualquiera que vote por Bolsonaro está preocupado por las máquinas de votación”.Y Fabrício Frieber, un abogado del estado de Bahía, agregó: “Bolsonaro nos viene advirtiendo”.En el transcurso de su presidencia, Bolsonaro ha cuestionado y criticado la seguridad del sistema de votación electrónica de Brasil, a pesar de la falta de evidencia creíble de que exista un problema en el mismo. Ahora, al final de su primer mandato, está claro que sus ataques han tenido un efecto: gran parte del electorado de Brasil ha perdido la fe en la integridad de las elecciones de su nación.Tres de cada cuatro partidarios de Bolsonaro confían poco o nada en el sistema de votación de Brasil, según varias encuestas de los últimos meses, incluida una realizada la semana pasada. Y en entrevistas con más de 40 de los partidarios de Bolsonaro en los últimos meses, casi todos dijeron que estaban preocupados por el fraude electoral y que estaban preparados para protestar si este pierde.Esas dudas han socavado una de las democracias más grandes del mundo y es probable que terminen por ser uno de los legados más perniciosos de Bolsonaro, parte de una tendencia mundial de mentiras y teorías de conspiración, a menudo alimentadas por líderes populistas y amplificadas por el internet, que están amenazando las normas democráticas en Estados Unidos y en todo el mundo.Los inspectores del tribunal electoral de Brasil prueban las máquinas de votación en São Paulo. Las máquinas no están conectadas a internet, lo que reduce significativamente la posibilidad de un ataque cibernético.Victor Moriyama para The New York TimesAhora, el domingo, Brasil podría ver hasta dónde llegan esas dudas sobre sus elecciones.Las encuestas muestran que la contienda entre Bolsonaro, el actual presidente de extrema derecha, y Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, expresidente de izquierda, está reñida. Sin embargo, Bolsonaro ha insinuado que, si pierde, es posible que no acepte los resultados.“¿Elecciones que no puedes auditar? Eso no es una elección. Es fraude”, declaró Bolsonaro a los periodistas en julio, al mencionar un reclamo común sobre el sistema electoral de Brasil. “Entregaré el poder, en unas elecciones limpias”.Si Bolsonaro es derrotado y busca aferrarse al poder, parece que las instituciones democráticas de Brasil están preparadas para resistir. Pero también parece que algunos de sus seguidores están preparados para luchar.“Si nuestro presidente no es elegido, todos vamos a Brasilia”, dijo Rogério Ramos, de 40 años, dueño de una tienda de electrónica automotriz, refiriéndose a la capital del país. “Cerramos el Congreso, como en el 64”.En 1964, un golpe militar condujo a 21 años de una dictadura violenta en Brasil.Rogério Ramos en su coche autónomo con otros simpatizantes de Bolsonaro luego de un mitin en Río de Janeiro.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga para The New York TimesMuchas de estas advertencias son probablemente comentarios improvisados y no planes organizados de violencia. Las autoridades del orden público no han advertido sobre ninguna amenaza por parte de alguno de los grupos en caso de que Bolsonaro sea derrotado.Pero el Supremo Tribunal Federal y el Tribunal Superior Electoral de Brasil aumentaron la seguridad, y el ejército se está preparando en caso de que haya descontento después de las elecciones, según dos altos oficiales militares que hablaron bajo condición de anonimato para comentar planes privados. El presidente o los tribunales podrían convocar a los militares para tratar de controlar a las multitudes violentas.Funcionarios gubernamentales, jueces, periodistas y gran parte de la ciudadanía brasileña están preocupados por un escenario similar al del 6 de enero de 2021, cuando miles de personas irrumpieron en el Capitolio de Estados Unidos, en un intento por anular los resultados de las elecciones después de que el expresidente Donald Trump negara repetidamente su derrota.Tanto Trump como Bolsonaro pasaron gran parte de sus gobiernos advirtiendo que el sistema estaba conspirando contra ellos. Trump criticó el “Estado profundo”, mientras que Bolsonaro acusó a algunos de los jueces que supervisan el Supremo Tribunal Federal de Brasil y al Tribunal Superior Electoral del país de intentar manipular las elecciones.Los seguidores de Bolsonaro enfocan su atención en una serie de aparentes anormalidades en el proceso de votación y los resultados, así como muchas teorías de conspiración.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga para The New York TimesBolsonaro también ha cuestionado la seguridad de las máquinas de votación electrónica de Brasil desde 2015, luego de que un candidato presidencial de centroderecha disputó una estrecha derrota. Bolsonaro, por entonces diputado, comenzó una cruzada apoyada en la afirmación de que las máquinas de votación eran vulnerables al fraude porque no están respaldadas por boletas de papel.Bolsonaro tiene razón al decir que el sistema de votación de Brasil es singular. Es el único país del mundo que utiliza un sistema totalmente digital, sin copias de seguridad en papel.Los expertos en seguridad informática que estudian el sistema dicen que su diseño en efecto dificulta la auditoría de una elección. Pero también dicen que el sistema tiene numerosas capas de seguridad para evitar fraudes o errores, entre estas están los lectores de huellas dactilares, pruebas de cientos de máquinas el día de las elecciones, inspección del código fuente por parte de expertos externos y el hecho de que las máquinas no se conectan a la red de internet, lo que reduce significativamente las posibilidades de un hackeo.Desde que Brasil comenzó a usar máquinas de votación electrónica en 1996, no ha habido evidencia de que hayan sido utilizadas para fraude. En cambio, las máquinas ayudaron a eliminar el fraude que alguna vez afectó las elecciones de Brasil en la era de las boletas de papel.Pero esa realidad no le ha importado mucho a Bolsonaro ni a muchos de los más de 50 millones de brasileños que votaron por él en la primera ronda electoral. En entrevistas, los partidarios de Bolsonaro en cambio centraron su atención en una serie anecdótica de aparentes anomalías en el proceso y los resultados de la votación, así como en muchas teorías de conspiración: las máquinas roban votos de Bolsonaro; las máquinas vienen precargadas con votos; algunas máquinas son falsificaciones plantadas; los funcionarios manipulan los recuentos de votos; y los resultados de la votación muestran patrones sospechosos.En elecciones pasadas, los seguidores de Bolsonaro han ido a las casillas en busca de alguna irregularidad que grabar para compartir como mayor prueba de fraude.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga para The New York TimesUn hombre entrevistado por The New York Times reprodujo un video que recibió a través de WhatsApp que decía que Bolsonaro había visitado Rusia este año para obtener la ayuda del presidente Vladimir Putin con el fin de luchar contra los planes de la izquierda brasileña de robar las elecciones del domingo.Al igual que en Estados Unidos y en otros lugares, las redes sociales han ayudado a polarizar a la población y han permitido que se difundan las dudas sobre las elecciones.La mayor parte del público brasileño solía reunirse alrededor de un solo canal de televisión, TV Globo. Ahora, los brasileños están dispersos en el interminable paisaje de medios de internet, a menudo en burbujas con personas de ideas afines que afianzan puntos de vista preexistentes, explicó Francisco Brito Cruz, director de InternetLab, un instituto de investigación en São Paulo.El público incluso se ha convertido en parte de los propios medios, al crear y compartir memes y videos, incluso sobre las máquinas de votación. En elecciones pasadas, los partidarios de Bolsonaro acudieron a las urnas en busca de alguna irregularidad que pudieran filmar y difundir como una prueba más del fraude.“Están en una misión imposible, tratando de encontrar dónde el trabajador electoral está manipulando las cosas, dónde están teniendo problemas”, dijo Brito Cruz. “Se han convencido a sí mismos, ¿no es cierto?”.La mayoría de los partidarios de Bolsonaro dijeron en entrevistas que no confían en los principales medios de comunicación, a los que Bolsonaro ha catalogado de deshonestos, y en cambio confían en noticias provenientes de una amplia variedad de fuentes en sus teléfonos, incluidas publicaciones en redes sociales y mensajes que reciben en grupos de WhatsApp y Telegram.“Miro las cosas que quiero ver y evito mirar lo que me quieren mostrar”, dijo José Luiz Chaves Fonseca, ingeniero de turbinas para plataformas petroleras en alta mar que este mes asistió disfrazado como Bolsonaro al mitin al norte de Río de Janeiro. “Si todos pensaran así, no serían engañados”.“Miro las cosas que quiero ver y evito mirar lo que me quieren mostrar”, dijo José Luiz Chaves Fonseca, quien acudió a un mitin caracterizado como Bolsonaro.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga para The New York TimesMuchas de las dudas sobre el sistema electoral tienen sus raíces en hechos reales, pero se tergiversan y enmarcan como prueba de que algo anda mal. Da Silva, por ejemplo, fue condenado por cargos de corrupción, que luego fueron anulados, por lo que Bolsonaro y sus seguidores lo caracterizan como un ladrón preparado para robar el voto.En 2018, piratas informáticos se infiltraron en la red informática de la agencia electoral de Brasil, y Bolsonaro y sus partidarios citan con frecuencia ese incidente como prueba de fraude. “Si dicen que las máquinas son tan impenetrables, entonces ¿por qué alguien está en la cárcel por forzar una máquina de votación?”, preguntó Alessandra Stoll Ranzni, diseñadora de São Paulo, durante la versión brasileña de CPAC, la conferencia política conservadora, a principios de este año.Una investigación mostró que los piratas informáticos no podían acceder a las máquinas de votación ni cambiar los totales de los votos.No todos los partidarios de Bolsonaro son tan escépticos. Vinícius Ramos, de 32 años, trabajador del gobierno al norte de Río de Janeiro, refirió que cuenta con un título en seguridad de redes y que no pensaba igual que muchas de las personas que lo rodeaban en un mitin reciente.“El sistema de votación nacional brasileño es uno de los más seguros del mundo”, dijo. “El hecho de que vote por él no significa que esté de acuerdo con todo lo que dice”.André Spigariol More