Colombia’s Foreign Ministry condemned far-right attacks on government buildings in Brazil and called on other governments to do the same.
In a message on social media platform Twitter, the Foreign Ministry said the government “condemns the attack on democracy” in Brazil and invited other regional governments to do the same.
President Gustavo Petro said on Twitter that “fascism decided to have a coup” after “the right failed to keep the pact of no violence” to secure the peaceful transition of power to leftist President Luis Inacio Lula.
Petro added that “it is urgent for an OAS [Organization of American States] meeting if it wants to continue existing as an institution,” claiming that the regional organization “has lost its way.”
Like the Colombian president, OAS Secretary General Luis Almargo “condemned the attack on Brazil’s institutions,” and the “fascist” and “direct attack on democracy.”
Petro stressed that the “American convention” between countries from the hemisphere “should acquire more judicial mechanisms” that could try those behind attacks on democracy like those in Brazil on Sunday.
Latin American fascism has already bled the continent dry, produced military coups and millions of people in exile. We propose a great Pact for Democracy in the Americas with courts and the capacity for action.
President Gustavo Petro
Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro, who lost to Lula in last year’s elections, initially refused to condemn the insurrection by his followers, but “the baseless accusations” about the far-right leader, who refused to concede defeat after the elections.
Hours later, Bolsonaro said that his followers’ “invasions of public buildings, as well as those in 2013 and 2017, are out of line.”
According to the BBC, far-right American pundits like Steven Bannon, a former adviser to fascist former US President Donald Trump, “stoked” the unrest in Brazil, falsely claiming that “Lula stole the election” while Brazil’s democratic institutions were under attack by “freedom fighters.”
Trump supporters stormed the US Congress in early 2021 in a violent attempt to maintain in power despite losing the 2020 presidential elections to President Joe Biden.
