Summary
Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro and 36 others have been charged by federal police with conspiracy and attempting to overthrow the country’s democracy through a right-wing coup.
The accused include top allies, such as former defense ministers and intelligence officials.
The charges follow an investigation into efforts to dismantle the constitutional state, backed by evidence from financial records and plea deals.
This comes days after arrests in a separate plot to assassinate President Lula da Silva and other officials.
Bolsonaro denies involvement in the 2022 election conspiracy.
From that to a “functioning democracy” there’s a large distance. But yeah, it’s not completely disfunctional
And insofar as Brazil isn’t a democracy it’s a kritarchy (rule of judges) which is generally supportive of democracy over autocracy so it’s no wonder that Bolsonaro and his goons are in deep shit. They’re enjoying throwing the book at him.
I was trying to go for the most savage burn. I’m sure there are still institutional problems with the system in Brazil, but it’s been doing some good work on the high level (fining twitter, banning bolsonaro)