(Brasilia) The security of President-elect Lula will be ensured by a 100% mobilization of the police, assured his team on Tuesday, five days before his inauguration and after an attempted bomb attack was discovered in the Brazilian capital.
Sunday “the police forces of the Federal District (of Brasilia) will be mobilized 100% to guarantee the safety not only of the president, but also of the foreign delegations and the population”, declared to the press Flavio Dino, his future minister of Public Security.
The plans for the ceremonies “have not been modified”, continued the minister, when asked about the possibility that Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva would descend the Esplanade of the Ministries in a closed car instead of the traditional Rolls-Royce convertible.
The decision “will be taken in due time”, said Mr. Dino, during a press conference attended by the future Minister of Defense and the governor of Brasilia, in charge of the local police.
The induction ceremony will be held in a “safe and peaceful” manner, Dino added, as Brasilia prepares to welcome hundreds of thousands of people.
Many sympathizers of the left-wing president-elect have expressed their fear of unrest or attacks on social networks, especially since the discovery last Saturday of an explosive device in a tanker truck near Brasilia airport. Activated, the device did not explode.
The man who had dropped him off was arrested and wanted, according to his statements to the police published by the local press, “to cause chaos” and “the intervention of the armed forces” in order to “prevent the establishment of communism in Brazil “.
An impressive number of weapons were found in this sympathizer of outgoing far-right president Jair Bolsonaro.
The governor of Brasilia, Ibaneis Rocha, indicated on Tuesday that a second man, suspected of having helped the main suspect, was wanted.
Radical Bolsonarists blocked roads and demonstrated outside barracks across the country after Lula’s narrow victory in the Oct. 30 ballot.
Two months later, there are still demonstrations, in front of certain barracks, of the army of Bolsonarists who do not recognize Mr. Lula’s victory and demand military intervention.
For his part, Mr. Dino asked the Federal Court to suspend the carrying of weapons in the capital from Wednesday until January 2, the day after the ceremony of taking office.
Mr. Dino assured that “small terrorist or extremist groups” would not be enough to undermine Brazilian democracy.
Mr. Bolsonaro, who has never congratulated Mr. Lula and seems to have sunk into depression, has hardly appeared in public since his defeat in the presidential election. He did not condemn various incidents caused by his supporters.
It is unlikely that he will gird Mr. Lula with the presidential sash on 1er January, as is institutional tradition. And the Brazilian media speculated on a possible departure Wednesday of the outgoing president – officially in office until December 31 – for the United States.