(Rio de Janeiro) Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said Sunday that tycoon Elon Musk “preserves freedom” of expression by denouncing censorship by the judiciary, and called on his supporters to “fight” to defend this right , during a large gathering in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Musk “is a man who truly preserves freedom for all of us,” and who “had the courage to show, with evidence, […] where our democracy was going, how many freedoms have already been lost,” Mr Bolsonaro said in front of the iconic Copacabana beach.
At Mr. Bolsonaro’s request, the crowd waved Brazilian flags and enthusiastically applauded the owner of the X platform, who in recent days clashed with Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, calling him a “dictator.”
During Bolsonaro’s rally, Musk wrote on his X account that Moraes “is against the will of the people and therefore against democracy.”
In the name of the fight against disinformation, Mr. Moraes ordered the blocking of user accounts on internet platforms, including X, particularly after the Bolsonaristas’ attempts to discredit the voting system during the last electoral campaign.
Bolsonaro, 69, denounced “a dictatorship” and called on his supporters to “continue the fight” to defend freedom of expression, “threatened” in Brazil.
PHOTO BRUNA PRADO, ASSOCIATED PRESS
A large crowd was present in front of Copacabana beach
“Let us act peacefully, to defend democracy, for our freedom, without posters or banners,” the former president (2019-2022) declared on social networks on Thursday.
Attentive to this slogan, many sympathizers wore only the national team jersey, wrapped in Brazilian flags.
“I came to fight for my freedom of expression because we no longer have this right. The Supreme Court overstepped all bounds […] I am here neither for a party nor for a person,” testified Daiana Mesquita, a 38-year-old communications manager.
“No lying”
In a letter dated April 13, representatives of X in Brazil, however, committed to complying with the decisions of the Supreme Court.
The dispute has gained momentum in political and legal circles. Other members of the Supreme Court supported the magistrate.
Left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, winner against Mr. Bolsonaro in October 2022, declared without directly alluding to Mr. Musk: “if I could, I would decree a ban on lying.”
The judge, who has recently made numerous public statements, observed on Friday that Brazilian justice was used to “dealing with foreign merchants who treat Brazil like a colony.”
PHOTO ERALDO PERES, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
Judge Alexandre de Moraes
Bolsonarist deputies accuse the Supreme Court of being aligned with Lula’s government and of undermining democracy and freedoms.
A committee of the US House of Representatives even intervened by publishing a thick report on Thursday on confidential decisions by the judge concerning X and other platforms.
Sunday’s demonstration comes two months after a major demonstration by Mr. Bolsonaro in Sao Paulo on February 25.
In 2023, the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE), chaired by Mr. de Moraes, sentenced him to eight years of ineligibility for disinformation about the Brazilian electoral system.
The judge had already ordered the opening of investigations against Mr. Bolsonaro and those close to him when he was president, which led to him being called a “scoundrel” by the person concerned in 2021.
“Fake news”
Another investigation under the responsibility of the magistrate attempts to establish whether the ex-president was the instigator of the riots of January 8, 2023 in Brasilia, when thousands of his sympathizers, refusing to accept Lula’s victory, ransacked places of power.
Mr. Bolsonaro was banned on February 8 from leaving the country as part of an investigation into a supposed “coup attempt” after his 2022 electoral defeat.
The investigators referred to a document containing a draft decree aimed at “preventing the legitimately designated president from accessing power”, by calling new elections and having Alexandre de Moraes arrested.
This draft decree is “the biggest fake news in the history of Brazil,” denounced the ex-president in an April 6 video calling for demonstrations.
He has always proclaimed his innocence, saying he was the victim of “persecution”.