Bolsonaro steps up attacks on Supreme Court (Sept. 8, 2021)

Hundreds of thousands of supporters of Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro demonstrated yesterday in Brasilia and around the country, many calling for a military takeover and other extremist views. The show of force contrasts with polls showing Bolsonaro's decreasing popularity, and fanned concerns that he will seek to stay in power undemocratically. (See Monday's post.)

Though there were fears of violent clashes yesterday, Brazil's Independence Day, there were no significant reports of violence. At least three times — once soon after Bolsonaro’s second speech of the day — groups of demonstrators in Brasilia tried to get past police barriers, but officers repelled them with pepper spray. (Guardian, Associated Press)

Bolsonaro used the occasion to again step up attacks on the country's Supreme Court, which has become the main counterpoint to his attacks on the country's democratic institutions. He accused  Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes for making what he characterized as political arrests and declared he will no longer abide by rulings from de Moraes.

“I want to tell those who want to make me unelectable in Brazil: Only God removes me from there," he told supports in S. Paulo.

Bolsonaro succeeded in a show of force that rallied supporters, but possibly at the cost of alienating political support, according to El País, which said more lawmakers have started considering the possibility of impeachment. 

Nonetheless, "the final result looked like a stalemate — an outcome that significantly raises tensions in Brazil’s long-running political crisis, but gives neither side a definitive advantage," argues Oliver Stuenkel in Americas Quarterly. 

Bolsonaro “crossed the Rubicon” yesterday, "he escalated the crisis. You can’t have a president who says, 'I won’t accept rule of law,’ or says, ‘I will only accept the laws I like.’ That’s not a democracy," Thomas Traumann, a political analyst, told the Associated Press.

Brazil’s Supreme Court said Chief Justice Luiz Fux planned to address Bolsonaro’s comments at the beginning of today's session.

More analysis at: Primeiro Café podcast.

More Brazil

• Jason Miller, a former aide to Donald Trump, said he was briefly detained and questioned by Brazilian authorities, yesterday.  According to Brazilian media, officials intercepted Miller by order of Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes and questioned him for allegedly participating in “anti-democratic acts” while in the country. (Washington Post, Daily Beast)

• Bolsonaro signed a decree earlier this week aimed at restricting the social media companies's moderation powers, specifically to remove accounts and content. He said the new legislation would help protect freedom of speech, reports the BBC.
  

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Mexican court decriminalizes abortion

Mexico's Supreme Court decriminalized abortion yesterday, in a landmark ruling that struck down a Coahuila state law that imposed up to three years of prison for women who underwent illegal abortions or those who aided them. The ruling, which determined that criminalization of abortion unconstitutional, is binding on other states. Under Mexican law, a supreme court ruling supported by at least eight justices supersedes state laws. Yesterday's ruling was unanimously supported by 10 justices. (Animal Político)

The decision does not automatically make abortion legal across Mexico, experts said, but it does set a binding precedent for judges across the country, reports the New York Times. Abortion is legal in four of Mexico’s 32 federal entities — Oaxaca, Veracruz, Hidalgo and Mexico City.

“Today is a watershed in the history of the rights of women and pregnant people, above all the most vulnerable,” Chief Justice Arturo Zaldívar said. "The unjust criminalization of women ends with one stroke. Never again a woman in prison for exercising her rights."

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador did not immediately comment yesterday. He has had a conflictive relationship with women's rights activists since taking office.

The decision reflects the growing power of Mexico's feminist movement, and will impact the womens rights agenda in Latin America, reports the Washington Post. Victories in one country often catalyze activist efforts in others, as occurred with Argentina's abortion legalization campaign, which succeeded in December of last year. In Mexico, as in the rest of the region, activists have linked demands for abortion legalization with protests against gender-based violence.

“Mexico’s decision represents a turning point that Latin America and the Caribbean are making in recognizing women’s rights to abortion as a matter of fundamental rights and reproductive rights,” said Brazilian women's rights activist Debora Diniz who presented an abortion case that Brazil's Supreme Court is set to rule on soon. (Wall Street Journal)

More Mexico

•  A 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit the Mexican resort town of Acapulco last night, but no significant damage was reported in the Guerrero state epicenter, or in neighboring states. At least one person was killed. Authorities reported electrical and phone outages in various localities. (Animal Político, New York Times, New York Times)
  
  
• Torrential rains flooded a hospital in the Mexican town of Tula yesterday, killing 17 patients, several because electric failure knocked out oxygen administration machinery. (Animal Político, Associated Press)

News Briefs

El Salvador

• El Salvador is now a national cryptocurrency experiment, after bitcoin became legal tender yesterday. (See yesterday's post.) But most Salvadorans say they want nothing to do with it, reports the Washington Post. Widespread opposition to the bitcoin move -- up to 65 percent according to one poll -- means the gamble could take a toll on President Nayib Bukele's popularity, reports El Faro English.
  
  
• Protesters led the largest demonstrations since Bukele took office yesterday, reports El Faro English. Around 1,000 demonstrators traveled to the Legislative Assembly to demand the revocation of the Bitcoin Law, as well as last week’s purge of one-third of El Salvador’s judges and the Supreme Court’s decision to allow Bukele to run for reelection despite constitutional prohibitions. (See yesterday's post.) Among the crowd were judges, including some removed from office last week, former guerrilla combatants, opposition parties, and civic organizations.

Chile

• Chilean Constitutional Convention delegate Rodrigo Rojas Vade's confession that he does not, in fact, have leukemia could be a major blow for the "Lista del Pueblo," a coalition of independent delegates who loosely represent the demands of social protests that started in 2019. (See yesterday's briefs.) Rojas gained prominence as an example of the country's unfair health care system, and made extensive references to the costs of his cancer treatment. However, while he has promised to resign as a constitutional delegate, it is not clear that he can legally do so, notes the Guardian.

Colombia

• Chile's Constitutional Court is evaluating a guardianship request presented by 90 Raizal families from the Caribbean island of Providencia, who seek the protection of their rights after the impact they suffered from Hurricane Iota in November 2020. (El Tiempo)

Regional Relations

• "For much of Latin America, growing ties with China have been propelled above all else by trade and broader economic considerations — not geopolitics," write Felipe Larraín and Pepe Zhang in Americas Quarterly. "Nonetheless, Latin America is not free from the indirect impact of U.S.-China trade tensions. The region has been affected unevenly by them and, on balance, does not benefit from these trade tensions."

Uruguay

• Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou announced yesterday that the country is advancing in a bilateral trade agreement with China, despite potential issues with the Mercosur trade bloc, reports Infobae. The deal is expected by the end of the year, said government officials.

Regional

• Vice has an issue dedicated to dismantling "hate discourse" in the region, with a compendium of articles that include "A for authoritarianism," "G for gender" and "H for homicide."

Did I miss something, get something wrong, or do you have a different take? Let me know ... 

Latin America Daily Briefing