Requiem for Democracy – Brazil’s Darkest Hour

Reading the transcript of Brazil’s April 22nd Council of Ministers meeting is a painful, frightening and shocking experience. The fact that this video was made public and transcribed is an eloquent sign that democracy is still alive.

It happened as a result of former minister Sergio Moro’s accusation that the president tried to interfere with the Rio de Janeiro Federal Police investigation into one of his sons for serious criminal conduct.

By ordering the release of the video, Celso de Mello, minister of the Federal Supreme Tribunal (STF), inscribed his name in the golden book of the brief and tortuous history of Brazilian democracy. Let’s hope that this promising sign he has given us has the potential to awaken democratic forces on the left and the right, a wake-up call from a deep and restless sleep composed of historical ignorance and myopic vanity, a sleep that lets them dream of electoral calculations without realizing how frivolous that is when their own democracy is hanging by a thread.

The fascists don’t even hide their intentions. The president makes a direct and unequivocal call for armed conflict. More than a call, it means that he is ready to arm civilians outside of the armed forces. And he’s doing it with the generals by his side! He is confessing to a high crime and a crime against national security, and nothing happens.