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Lula slams far-right ‘terrorism’ as Brazil clears protest camps

Photo: MAURO PIMENTEL / AFP

January 10 | By AFP | Ramon Sahmkow|

Brazilian security forces cleared protest camps Monday and arrested 1,500 people as President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva condemned “acts of terrorism” after a far-right mob stormed the seat of power, unleashing chaos on the capital.

Hundreds of soldiers and police mobilized to dismantle an improvised camp outside the army’s headquarters in Brasilia.

There, some 3,000 supporters of ex-president Jair Bolsonaro had set up tents — used as a base for the sea of protesters who ran riot inside the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court for around four hours Sunday.

Lula, who took office on January 1 after a bitterly divisive election win over Bolsonaro, returned to work in the pillaged presidential palace, where AFP reporters saw the wreckage that remained of the previous day’s havoc: trashed artwork and offices, shattered windows and doors, broken glass strewn across the floor, and furniture dragged into a reflecting pool.

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Lula, the 77-year-old veteran leftist who previously led Brazil from 2003 to 2010, met with the leaders of both houses of Congress and the chief justice of the Supreme Court, and joined them in condemning what many called the South American country’s version of the US Capitol riots in Washington two years ago. 

“The three powers of the republic, the defenders of democracy and the constitution, reject the terrorist acts and criminal, coup-mongering vandalism that occurred,” they said in a joint statement.

Lula accepted an invitation to meet with President Joe Biden next month in Washington, US officials said.

Bolsonaro, who narrowly lost the October elections, meanwhile said on Twitter that he had been hospitalized in Florida with abdominal pains stemming from a near-fatal knife attack when he was campaigning for the presidency in 2018. 

Bolsonaro has alleged he is the victim of a conspiracy against him by Brazil’s courts and electoral authorities.

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The ex-president, dubbed the “Tropical Trump,” traveled to Orlando on the second-to-last day of his term — snubbing Lula’s inauguration, in a break with tradition.

Bolsonaro, 67, took to Twitter Sunday night to condemn the “pillaging” in Brasilia, but rejected Lula’s claim he incited the attacks, and defended the right to “peaceful protests.”

‘Traces of Trumpism’

As the nation continued to come to grips with Sunday’s stunning violence, hundreds of people gathered along a major avenue in downtown Sao Paulo to defend Brazilian democracy and demand punishment for the people who stormed the halls of power a day earlier. 

“I have not endured what I have in this life to see what I saw yesterday — my people, my country, divided in such a way,” said Edi Valladares, a 61 year old teacher.

The demonstrators included young people, entire families, labor union activists, anti-racism advocates and others, with banners reading “We are with Lula and for democracy” and “Respect for the people’s vote.”

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Earlier in the day, large contingents of riot police deployed to lock down the capital’s Three Powers Square, home to the iconic modernist buildings that serve as the headquarters of the three branches of government.

Condemnation continued to pour in from around the world, with Pope Francis criticizing the unrest as a sign of “weakening of democracy” in the Americas.

In a joint statement ahead of summit talks in Mexico City, Biden, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the attacks and said they “stand with Brazil as it safeguards its democratic institutions.”

In a show of firm support, Biden spoke with Lula by phone Monday and invited him to visit the White House in early February. The Brazilian leader accepted, the White House said.

Biden told Lula of his support for “the free will of the Brazilian people as expressed in Brazil’s recent presidential election, which President Lula won,” the White House said in a statement.

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Many drew the inevitable comparison to January 6, 2021, when supporters of then-US president Donald Trump invaded the Capitol in Washington in a violent, failed bid to stop Congress from certifying his election loss.

Investigation begins 

Lula, who was in the southeastern city of Araraquara visiting a flood-hit region when the riot started, signed a decree Sunday declaring a federal intervention in Brasilia, giving his government special powers over the local police force to restore law and order in the capital.

His government vowed to find and arrest those who planned and financed the attacks.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes suspended Brasilia Governor Ibaneis Rocha, a Bolsonaro ally, from his post for 90 days, on grounds of “criminal negligence.”

Moraes also ordered the security forces to disperse anti-government protests outside military bases nationwide.

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Hardline Bolsonaro supporters have been protesting outside army barracks calling for a military intervention to keep Lula from power since his election win.

Following the ruling, soldiers and police broke up camps in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, as well as Brasilia.

Lula narrowly won the October 30 runoff election by a score of 50.9 percent to 49.1 percent.

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International

Trump will receive Netanyahu at the White House next week

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Washington next week, a high-ranking official of Donald Trump’s government told EFE.

The visit, which according to the specialized portal Jewish Insider will take place on Monday, comes amid pressure from Washington to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza strip.

The US president launched a message on Sunday on his social network Truth calling for an immediate agreement to end the conflict and “release the hostages.”

This message follows another one from last Friday in which he assured that a solution to the conflict in Palestine could be reached as early as this week.

“We are working in Gaza and trying to solve it. We are supplying a lot of money and a lot of food to that area because we have to do it,” the president stressed at an event in Washington.

In addition to publicly insisting on his desire to reach a cease of hostilities in the region, Trump has also supported Netanyahu, a key ally, despite the fact that the Israeli is going through a judicial process where he is charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three different criminal cases.

Israel has maintained its offensive in Gaza, in a resurgence of the conflict that has already lasted for more than a year and that leaves dozens of deaths daily.

The Israeli Army has intensified its attacks in the north of the Strip after ordering last Sunday the forced evacuation of residents in several neighborhoods of the capital of Gaza and the northern city of Yabalia.

Since October 7, 2023, at least 56,259 Palestinians have died and more than 132,000 have been injured by Israeli fire, according to figures from the Ministry of Health of the Hamas Government.

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International

The US climate agency will lose access to key data for hurricane forecasting in July

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on Monday that it will lose access to essential satellite data for the hurricane forecast on July 31, when the Department of Defense will stop sharing the images with that US agency.

Initially, NOAA was going to lose access to the data from today Monday, but managed to extend the deadline since NASA, which was also going to be affected by the measure, requested an extension until July 31.

According to a NOAA statement, late on Friday, June 27, the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command received a request from Karen St. Germain, director of NASA’s Earth Science Division, “to postpone the withdrawal and continue processing and distributing data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program until July 31.”

The original decision to cut off access to satellite data as of today was made with the aim of “mitigating a significant cybersecurity risk,” according to the note.

NOAA’s access to data provided by the Defense Weather Satellite Program was crucial for predicting hurricane formation, since they allowed to mediate variables that were not available to conventional satellites.

In addition, the measure takes place in the middle of hurricane season, which experts expect to be more intense than normal in the Atlantic Ocean.

According to the Colorado State University (CSU), the probability of a major hurricane, category 3 or higher, impacting the United States in the current Atlantic cyclone season amounts to 51%.

This coincides with the approval in the Lower House of Congress of the controversial “great and beautiful bill” of US President Donald Trump, which includes a cut of almost 30% of the annual budget to NOAA and 646 million dollars to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

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International

The Argentine justice declares Milei’s measure that limited the right to strike unconstitutional

The Justice of Argentina declared on Monday the unconstitutionality of two articles of the decree signed on May 20 by President Javier Milei that limited the right to strike of workers from various sectors, giving rise to a precautionary measure requested by the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), the main workers’ central of the country.

The decision was made by the National Labor Court No. 3, which ordered to stop the application of articles 2 and 3 of decree 340/2025, considering that they violate constitutional guarantees such as freedom of association and the right to strike, established in the Constitution and in international agreements signed by Argentina.

The decree modified article 24 of Law 25,877, which regulates collective labor conflicts, and declared a long list of activities as essential, limiting the possibility of its workers to carry out union action measures.

Judge Moira Fullana, who intervened in the case, argued that the unconstitutionality is based on the fact that, at the time of the signing of the decree, the National Congress was in full function, so there was no justification of necessity and urgency that deserved to skip the legislative treatment of such modifications.

On June 2, Fullana had provisionally failed to suspend the application of this measure, in response to another precautionary measure, requested by the Association of State Workers (ATE).

Until before its recent challenge, Decree 340/2025 required to guarantee between 50% and 75% of the usual benefits in sectors such as the production of medicines and/or hospital supplies, land and underground transport, radio and television, industrial activities, the food industry, the production and distribution of building materials, all airport services, logistics services, mining activity, refrigeration activity, mail and the distribution and marketing of food and beverages, among others, even during trade union conflicts.

The Government also included in that list of essential services all branches of maritime and river transport, customs, immigration services and education at all levels.

The measure, originally included in an extensive decree of general deregulation of the economy signed by Milei shortly after its assumption in December 2023, had already been unconstitutional by the Argentine Justice at that time.

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