Carlos Sanchez Berzain Abogado | Estadista | Político | Politólogo
Carlos Sánchez Berzaín
March 25, 2025
(Interamerican Institute for Democracy) Within the International Democratic Charter, the situation of Brazil’s democracy is critical. The current presidency of Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva is branded by evidence of violations to human rights and individual basic freedoms, the rule of law, the separation and independence of the branches of government, and attacks against his political opponents. His foreign policies have identified him as a para-dictatorial government, and his internal actions reveal he has taken the path towards becoming a regime of 21st Century Socialism, or Castrochavism.
In democracy, freedom recognizes the sovereignty of the people and those who govern are mere mandataries obligated by their constituency to “respect human rights and individual basic freedoms;” to “govern with subjection to the rule of law;” to respect a “regime of plurality of political parties and organizations;” to be subjected to “the separation and independence of the branches of government;” and with all of these components “to the celebration of periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal and secret suffrage concepts as the expression of the peoples’ sovereignty.” These are the essential components of democracy.
The destruction of democracy from the inside is described by Ecuador’s former president Oswaldo Hurtado in his book “21st Century Dictatorships” where he said: “The model by which, under the leadership of a civilian chieftain elected by the people, democracies were being converted into plebiscitary dictatorships, through the malicious use of institutions, was not Hugo Chavez’s invention. This had been conceived and instituted decades before by autocrats who governed Italy and Germany at the start of the 20th century. To the European fascist model, its Latin American fellow politicians only added certain vernacular elements such as the traditional caudillismo, atavistic paternalism, the utilitarian clientism, the profitable populism, and the old anti-imperialism.”
It was, with this fascist mechanism presented as “revolutionary,” that democracies from Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Ecuador were destroyed, expanding the model of Cuba’s dictatorship. They supplanted the “rule of law” with institutionalized violations of human rights, manipulation of the judicial branch with hit-men disguised as judges and prosecutors, political prisoners and exiles, false accusations, and despicable sentences, crimes against humanity, and impunity for the dictators and their inner circles. They established “functional opposition members” and eliminated any possibility of the existence of uncontrolled political participation. Recent proof are the 2019 and 2020 elections in Bolivia, the 2021 elections in Nicaragua, and the 2024 elections in Venezuela.
Lula is the only surviving founder of the so-called 21st Century Socialism that was organized with Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro. Upon being sworn-in to his current mandate, he restored “full relationship” with dictatorships from Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. In May of 2023, he welcomed dictator Nicolas Maduro, attempting to -previously and during the South American Presidents’ Summit- rehabilitate him. In July of 2023 he promoted the Presidents’ Summit of the European Union and the Community of Central American and Caribbean States (CELAC in Spanish) to help the four existing dictatorships. In 2024, he travelled to Bolivia in support to the regime there. He exhibited his anti-imperialism posturing boosting the Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS in Spanish) organization. Lula, challenged the 2023 Summit of the Americas, opened-up to China and Iran, visited China while attacking Europe and the US, and more.
Internally, there is evidence of the judicialization of political persecution in Brazil. A replica of the Cuban model to -as usual- incarcerate innocent victims and those who participated in the 11-J protests. A replica of Venezuela to incarcerate hundreds of opposition members and force them into exile with a diaspora of nearly 8 million, disqualify Marina Carina Machado and in the aftermath of 28-J apply State-terrorism. A replica of Bolivia to falsely accuse the legitimate government -toppled in 2003- of an inexistent coup-d état and imprison former president Añez, Governor Camacho and hundreds of innocents, and cause thousands of exiles. A replica of Nicaragua, to incarcerate, uproot, and deprive of their citizenship to over 200 democratic leaders, candidates, and defenders of democracy and have nearly 100,000 exiles.
On 1 July of 2023, headlines in the international news media read “Lula rewards the attorney who took him out of jail with a position in Brazil’s Supreme Court. Cristiano Zanin defended the Brazilian president in the Lava Jato operation proceedings.” In February of 2024, InfoBae reported: “The former Magistrate of Brazil’s Supreme Court who annulled Lula da Silva’s sentences for corruption, was sworn-in as Brazil’s Minister of Justice. Ricardo Lewandowsky is a personal friend of the president and had an important role in taking Lula out of jail, following his sentencing in the Lava Jato case.”
Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, stated on 18 March that “he is temporarily leaving his congressional seat as a federal representative and will remain in the United States to seek justice” while casting “harsh criticism against Supreme Magistrate Alexandre de Moraes, instructor in the prosecution by which Jair Bolsonaro is accused to have directed a coup against the government of Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva…”
*Attorney & Political Scientist. Director of the Interamerican Institute for Democracy.
Translation from Spanish by Edgar L. Terrazas
Published in Spanish by infobae.com Sunday March 23, 2025