Commentary
After electoral authorities declared the far-left candidate, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the winner of Brazil’s presidential elections, millions of concerned citizens gathered outside the Army headquarters in Brasília and military barracks in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Curitiba to protest.
Unfortunately, however, those concerned citizens might have sought the assistance of a historically unreliable political ally. After all, the military in Brazil has developed over the years an unequivocal tradition of authoritarian interference in the nation’s political affairs.
They have done so by often assuming for themselves the task of salvadores da pátria (saviours of the fatherland) from “bad” and “corrupt” politicians….