Brazil, 2023 — dissident coup attempt

Event Summary

On 8 January 2023 thousands of supporters of the defeated former president Jair Bolsonaro stormed the seats of Brazil's three branches of government in the capital Brasilia, invading and ransacking the National Congress, the Supreme Federal Court, and the presidential Planalto Palace in a violent bid to overturn the 2022 election and provoke a military coupi against the newly inaugurated president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro, a far right populist, had narrowly lost the October 2022 runoff to the leftist Lula and had spent months casting doubt on the electronic voting system; after Lula's inauguration on 1 January, his most militant supporters, who had been camped outside army barracks demanding military intervention, converged on Brasilia. On 8 January they overran the lightly defended Praca dos Tres Poderes, smashing windows, destroying artwork, and occupying the halls of power in scenes widely compared to the United States Capitol attack two years earlier.

But the insurrection had no support from the military high command, and security forces retook the buildings within hours, arresting hundreds. Lula, who was away from the capital, remained firmly in power, and the episode led to sweeping prosecutions and, ultimately, to Bolsonaro's conviction for plotting a coup.