Not on your life
Two weeks ago, Brazil’s federal police launched a high-profile raid against former President Jair Bolsonaro and more than 10 of his allies, including Brazil’s former navy chief, national security advisor, and ministers of defense and justice. Authorities accused the group of plotting a potential coup after Bolsonaro’s failed 2022 reelection bid.
Court documents related to the raid suggest that Bolsonaro personally edited a decree that would have overturned election results and imprisoned a Supreme Court justice; a general loyal to the president confirmed he would provide the troops needed to carry out the coup. Bolsonaro also allegedly pressured his cabinet to more forcefully share disinformation about supposed weaknesses in Brazil’s electoral system. The former president was asked to hand over his passport to authorities and may face decades in jail.
The recent revelations suggest that Brazilian coup-mongers’ plans were more advanced than initially believed. In the end, however, they did not get their way—in part due to divisions within Brazil’s armed forces that were the target of concerted pro-democracy efforts by U.S. President Joe Biden.
Biden’s stated commitment to defending democracy worldwide is often brushed off as mere rhetoric. After all, during his tenure, the United States has made uneasy compromises with autocrats to achieve its geopolitical objectives. Amid continued U.S. support for Israel’s assault on Gaza, Washington has also been branded a hypocrite in much of the global south.
This tide of criticism may explain why one of Biden’s most significant foreign-policy achievements to date remains curiously overlooked. Not only was Brazil’s democracy closer to the brink than initially understood, but targeted U.S. pressure on key Brazilian officials was likely decisive in guaranteeing the eventual outcome: a largely peaceful transition of power in the country after its October 2022 presidential election.
The account presented in this article comes from interviews with Brazilian policymakers and issue-area experts as well as Brazilian and international media reports. In conversations with Foreign Policy, several individuals, including a high-ranking Brazilian diplomat and a military expert, confirmed that, in their views, external pressure was critical to preventing members of Brazil’s military from executing Bolsonaro’s plans for a coup.
Evidently, the pressure came not just from the president but the entire US Government, most importantly the Pentagon which was very influential with the Brazilian Generals who were necessary for the coup to succeed.
It’s very sad to me that the administration isn’t getting more credit for things like this and the Afghanistan withdrawal. The Gaza situation is a nightmare and I too, of course, wish that the US would be able to exert more power to put an end to it. But it doesn’t wipe out everything else that’s happened. And the alternative is so much worse… alas, that’s where we are.